Mike: announcer voice ANNNNDDDD NOW THE MOMENT YOU HAVE ALLLL BEEN WAITING FOR!!!!!!

Eve: You're gonna belch... aren't you? .

Sarah: Please don't. inching away.

Mike: NO! I'm not gonna belch! Crossing his arms and glaring at the two girls.

Eve: Oh, please! Down south is not a kind place.

Sarah: Eeeeeeeeeewwwwwwww!

Mike: I'm not letting it out down south either!!

Eve: feeeew that was close

Mike: I was going to say: the Quidditch match. Geeze. Besides, you're last chapter was evil, the readers needed something light.

Eve: thanks Mike, not like I worked hard on it and don't want that to be told in the commentary or nothing... and for your information, it was not an evil chapter.

Sarah: Remember kids, you can't spell Evil with out EVE.

Eve: Sure you can.

Sarah: Shut up.

Dumbledore: I'm looking forward to reading this chapter. puts his hand on Eve's shoulder. Eve nearly jumps out of her skin in fright.

Eve: Will the special guests please, ANOUNCE their presence before grabbing me!!!

Dumbledore: I'm sorry. unsticking a lemon drop Does anyone want one of these?

Mike: Oh, I do..... Where did you find that headset? didn't know we had that one registered

Dumbledore hands him a lemon drop and ignores the question.

Eve: ...Well at least no one has asked-

Dumbledore: Oh, Eve dear, I was meaning to ask you. When is Harry going to be born?

A shiver goes down Eve's spine and she twitches a bit and stares off into space. Totally ignored being called a deer.

Sarah: Eve? Eve, hun, are you alright?

Eve: through gritted teeth Can... We... Please... Just...Start....The....Fic?

Dumbledore: Of course; on with the fic.



The next morning Cota and Derek woke up early. The moon showed that it was three o'clock and Cota knew that there wasn't an event in history that would have made Sirius get up before five. The two stretched groggily and decided that everyone getting their own section of the tree house was a good idea as there were only so many soft spots on the floor. Cota was just glad that Derek hadn't snored as loudly as he could and that he had been able to make do with covering his ears with a pillow.

Cota wouldn't say anything to Derek; it wasn't like he was TRYING to do it. However, as soon as he learned a silencing charm... Cota rubbed his eyes and looked to Owiery, who –as Cota remembered- had been on a trip during the last two weeks of awakening class. That class taught a rider how to set up a very quiet alarm to wake themselves up, then trained them to hear it.

The alarm went off, Cota shut it off after the first few rings, and yet Owiery was still out cold. With a gentle laugh, Derek rose to his feet and headed down the ladder. Cota woke Owiery up and received a glare he didn't think a human was possible of making. Owiery blinked, and the look was gone, though it was obvious that given a few more seconds, Cota might have found himself with a black eye.

"Not a morning person?" Cota mouthed, trying to smile in a way that showed he meant no harm by the comment.

"Lord Ramier isn't ever up before seven. He leaves by eight, why should I get up at five?" Owiery yawned, dragging his feet as he followed Cota out of the tree house.

"I guess I can see your point," Cota nodded. He wasn't the type to lecture his friends.

They both followed Derek to the stable. The dew on the grass was the hardest part to negotiate as Sirius would notice if something was wrong. However, Cota had finished a basic path recently and they made it to the barn without leaving any incriminating evidence. Derek rubbed his hands together as he leaned against a stable door and explained his idea for a prank.

Cota listened from inside Patrick's stall; he was petting him in exchange for Patrick to be quiet. The horse was lying on its side and seemed to be purring. Owiery stood next to Kazan and side-glancing Patrick as he listened. He noticed that Cota –whom he had always assumed was the automatic leader- stayed quiet and listened while Derek talked. However, he would easily lend an opinion and seemed to by trying his best to make Derek's plan work.

Derek stuttered a bit when he got excited and Owiery lost interest in trying to understand him. He eyed Cota, his ex-rival, he was staring intently at Derek, nodding his head from time to time. A strange hatred washed over Owiery and then he realized exactly why he hated Cota. He hated him because he wasn't perfect, but rather went out of his way to do his best and then some.

Owiery wanted to be perfect, but never put out the effort Cota did, and he realized that if he had ever needed to get ahead he might have dragged down a classmate to do it. But Cota... didn't seem to care who was better. He just... cared. Owiery shook his head as Derek finished his eccentrically detailed plan.

"You don't think it'll work?" Derek asked him, both himself and Orion turning their heads to look at Owiery.

"Huh?" Oweiry's voice showed its usual dark tone and superior dialect.

"It'll be hard, but I think it can work," Cota interrupted the start of an argument. "We just have to make sure they're really suspicious... then completely forget any plan."

"Yeah, we wanna play the ol' your suspicion is the best revenge," Derek nodded rabidly.

"...All you want to do is scare them?" Owiery asked.

"Man! Have you even been listening??" Derek accused.

"Relax, we're tired," Cota again stopped the fight. "No, Derek's got a good idea for revenge; we just want them to THINK we're just threatening them."

"...Won't your Lord get mad at you for this?"

"Lord James?" Cota seemed surprised.

"No," Both him and Derek chorused.

"He'll probably either think it was funny, or score it against his own pranks," Cota explained, trying to pull his shirt-sleeve free from Patrick's mouth.

"If you say so," Owiery gave in. They went over the plan again, this time with Cota explaining it and Derek nodding along. Then they headed back to the tree-house to get in a few more hours of sleep. They had gone to the barn to be absolutely sure no one heard them. The tree house was very close to the house after all.

The three students awoke up the same time as usual –for Cota and Derek anyway- and went to begin the morning chores; feeding their horses, making sure there was fresh hay and bedding in the stalls, brushing the horses, and then checking the water. James got up not too much longer after them and took care of Gyriph. He was very peculiar in who took care of his horse and usually did everything himself when he could.

Sirius's black dog showed up and looked nervously around then disappeared. When they were finished they ate breakfast, Owiery ate quickly and then went back outside with Kazan, he wasn't exactly feeling comfortable. Cota saw this and followed, not about to let Owiery spend his morning all alone feeling like the outcast. Derek was enjoying his food, but hurried and Lilly tossed him a piece of toast as he headed out the door.

They all knew that Derek had grown up in a tough situation and was paranoid about food, always afraid he'd run out. He had spent a lot of time in the hospital as a child and was always hungry. It wasn't a very good hospital and at that point he'd hardly been able to speak so he nearly starved, unable to tell people he was so hungry. So, Lilly took great care in making sure there was plenty of food.

James didn't know of the plans for that day and was reading the paper when Sirius, Remus and Peter showed up. They also ate quickly and tapped James on the shoulder when they were finished. Sirius noted that James had developed the ability to eat and read at the same time without ever moving the paper.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Huh?" James dropped the paper, folding it as he did and looked at Sirius for an explanation.

"He's ready! So let's go," cried a very impatient Peter.

"Am I? For what?" James asked and Remus pulled him up out of the chair.

"For today's battle!" Remus explained with a grin.

"Battle?" James asked, dazed.

"Come on," Sirius insisted as they dragged James out side.

Lilly and Dumbledore walked behind the group and Cota had the horses ready to go. Owiery sat still and silent on his with Derek on his left. Derek's horse was gray/white with black legs and had a couple black dots on its side that looked like Orion. (Orion is a star constellation.n) His eyes were blue and his face was darker grey. Orion also had a black mane and tail.

Cota was waiting and trying to hold on to Gyriph, Yuki, Spotan, Xan(Zan), Tremol, and Quickstep. Owiery hopped off Kazan to help Cota. He Grabbed Spotan(Sp-O-tan), Xan and Tremol (Tre-mall). Sirius nervously took Yuki from Cota, Peter took Spotan from Owiery, James took Gyriph from Cota, Remus took Xan from Owiery, Lilly took Quickstep from Cota, and Dumbledore received Tremol from Oweiry.

Oweiry climbed onto Kazan and Cota hopped onto Patrick, who was very giddy that morning and danced around. Cota, Derek and Owiery were the first one's to mount and Lilly told them to head on out and make sure that no one takes the spot.

"What spot is it?" Cota asked, though he already knew.

"Umm...lot 7-31-H," Lilly explained, side-glancing James and smiling wickedly.

"Forward, Pat!" Cota ordered, holding on tightly as Patrick preformed a wildly unnecessary moonwalk-type-thing and then lunged forward.

"Go, Kazan!" Owiery commanded, not very impressed with Patrick and wanting to prove his horse would do better. Kazan eased into a gallop and set out after Patrick.

"Our turn, Orion!" Derek patted Orion's neck and the horse shot out like someone had lighten a bomb on its tail.

Gyriph let out an angry neigh and Patrick replied with a call that sounded like an apology. Gyriph shook his head and waited patiently. James mounted Gyriph, his excitement now easily noticeable. He saw the brooms Peter was carrying and knew the Quidditch field names and numbers by heart. Sirius grinned and clambered on to Yuki, Remus onto Xan, Peter hopped onto Spotan, Lilly on to Quickstep, and Dumbledore mounted Tremol.

Everyone walked the horses as they enjoyed the peacefulness of the early morning; a rare commodity. Sirius laughed that it was nice they had Cota to run up ahead and prepare everything. They didn't know that the three Guildsmen had circled around and could hear everything they were saying. Cota laughed quietly, hoping Sirius would remember that comment later.

They walked their horses around everyone and back towards the house. Once there they set the trap and galloped to the Quidditch field at full speed. Patrick was in the lead, followed by Orion and then Kazan. When they got to the field they quickly set everything up quickly and lied down on the grass. They knew better then to discuss their plan because someone could hear them.

Sirius galloped ahead and watched them, waiting for them to make the rookie mistake of talking about their plan. But, like they had agreed the night before, the plan was over; it couldn't be fixed up and they had to remain emotionless after it happened. When everyone finally arrived they picked teams. Remus just wanted to referee so it would be:

James, Sirius and Peter VS Cota, Owiery and Derek.
James was a Seeker- of course- and so was Owiery. Derek was a Keeper along with Peter; and Sirius and Cota were both chasers.

"Okay so you'll have the west goals and we'll take the east," Cota proposed and everyone except Sirius nodded.

"Wait! We want the east goals," Sirius announced suspiciously.

Cota raised an eye brow, Derek and Owiery both nodded slightly to Cota; their plan was taking form. The two students nodding at the same time sent Sirius on edge.

"Fine take the east goals," Cota nodded and hopped on his broom.

"Unless you want us to have the east goals, but said you'd take it only because you knew we'd want whatever goals you chose....we want the west goals," Sirius crossed his arms and nodded. He was ignoring James, who was staring fixedly at the back of his neck, trying to send a telepathic message that he didn't care if they all died afterwards as long as he got to play.

"Fine, I don't care," Cota shrugged and was about to take off when Sirius grabbed him.

"No, wait, you might have known that we would know you knew we'd know you knew that we would argue this," he stated in perfect dialect of a crazy person, or drug addict suffering withdrawal.

"I had no idea it would be a big deal," Cota protested, freeing himself and staring at Sirius in fake shock.

"We'll take east," Sirius announced.

"Good," Cota once again prepared for take off.

"But then again..."

"Paranoia, paranoia," Cota sang.

Sirius ignored him and continued. "Only a fool would put the trap in front of himself, however you know that we are smart and would have suspected the trap to be in front of us..." He began.

"Pick a side," Cota groaned.

"So you put the trap in front of yourselves hoping we would choose it, but then again you might have suspected that we would figure this out so you put the trap in front of us..." Sirius continued.

"Not that much thought goes into picking a side," Cota growled.

"However, you would have known that we would have suspected this so I can certainly not chose the goal in front of us," Sirius stated.

"Good, then you have made a decision?" Cota asked hopefully.

"Not even close, I haven't even begun yet," Sirius answered.

"He's right, I've seen him go on for days," James laughed.

Owiery felt himself smiling, he was having fun and it surprised him. He had expected to hate Cota forever, yet he found himself actually warming up to him. Dumbledore smiled and Lilly set up a bench for the spectators. Dumbledore had missed seeing this kind of close friendship. At the school he saw a lot of kids make friends, everyone had friends, but he didn't know how far their friendships would go, he had been able to tell from the start that James, Sirius, Peter and Remus would be friends forever.

Watching them now he felt overwhelmed with peace. Lilly had told him about how she and James wanted a son; he had told her that their son would be a great wizard and a wonderful child, and he had no doubt in his mind that his comment was true.

Sirius continued his argument until Cota finally yelled that he didn't care what goal Sirius picked, he didn't care if he flipped a coin or moved to a new field. To this Sirius had simply replied,

"I want a new field," Cota closed his eyes and looked to be trying to convince himself that killing his lord's friend would only get him in trouble, so Dumbledore stepped in.

"Cota you have East and Sirius you have West. If anything goes wrong you can hold me accountable, alright?" He asked.

Sirius thought about this for a few seconds, then consulted Peter and James. After their little meeting they agreed to it. Cota had said "works for us" midway though their meeting because he had never imagined the goal picking decision to last this long. Finally the game could begin.

Owiery and James took to the field first, James going up high and circling and Owiery going toward the left side of the field and simply waiting. Cota gave Sirius a 'lets go!' type look as the two Quaffles were released. Peter and Derek flew to their goals and moved to whatever position they thought was the most maneuverable. Everything was set for the game to begin.

"Come on kid, show me what you got," Cota smirked at Sirius.

Remus signaled Lilly to release the Golden Snitch before Sirius could make a come back. The hyper powered snitched rocketed upward. Owiery calmly watched it go; James circled and tried to catch it on its way up. His pulse quickened in the rush of the Golden Snitch flying at him and he immediately picked up where he left off in playing the game.

His instinct kicked in and he flew the broom with excellent grace and speed. James had never needed to be taught how to ride a broom, it had already been implanted in his mind, he had Quidditch genes, or so the Quidditch team captain used to tell him.

The fresh, crisp morning air in his face, the birds flying around him, the look of the field with dew still on the grass, the movement below him as his teammates and opposing team fought to get one of the Quaffles into one of the goals, and then the Snitch, it's white wings shone in the morning sun and it's gold sparkled magnificently.

James raced upward in the direction the snitch was heading. It appeared beside him and he reached out to grab it. The snitch turned and James raced after it. Remus looked up at James; he had missed the sight of him racing across the open sky, a master of his broom. Sirius even had to stop and look along with Peter, they all smiled. Dumbledore and Lilly followed their gazes and watched James.

"Our son will learn to fly, then he'll learn to walk," Lilly whispered in complete happiness.

Dumbledore nodded. He could see the tears of pure delight well up in Lilly's eyes. She was imagining attending her son's first Quidditch game. She knew the first birthday present James would ever get him would be a little Quidditch play set. She imagined the sight as the crowd cheered her son's name. She wanted to see this and tears came to her eyes when she thought how great that moment would be. Playing Quidditch made James so happy and she wanted her son to feel the same happiness.

Remus blew his whistle and Lilly was drawn out of her thoughts, Cota had scored a goal. James sped up and the snitch made a u-turn. The snitch had absolutely no problem flying, even in the cold December weather. It made another turn and headed right for the stands near Owiery. It was going so fast it couldn't turn. James was surprised at its speed! Owiery looked from the Snitch to Lilly and back again. The snitch was going to hit Lilly if she didn't move.

"Better move," he cautioned.

Lilly gave him a confused look, snitches didn't hit people. But this one was going too fast to stop. Lily quickly took Oweiry's advice and got up to move. James had given up on catching the snitch and was more worried about catching his wife before the snitch hit her. James sped up and made it in front of the snitch; he turned and quickly grabbed Lilly as the snitch hit the place she had been sitting.

"He told me that thing was a bit faster then usual, he didn't tell me it was on a killing spree," Cota yelled out and Owiery grabbed the snitch as it bounced off the bench; In the process, he fell off his broom and landed on the field that was about seven feet down. Cota and Derek raced over to where Owiery fell.

"Hey!" Derek called out. "Are you alright?" He asked and Cota jumped off his broom.

"High powered snitch...Bad idea," Owiery groaned.

James and Lilly landed safely back on the ground.

"Did I hurt you," James's soft, concerned voice asked.

"No, not at all," She answered and hugged him, he always made her feel safe and she knew she'd never have to worry about anything because he'd never let anything happen to her.

"So...who won?" asked Peter as he came down.

Owiery looked at his hand and his eyes widened. "You mean I actually caught that thing?!" He said in pure amazement.

"Ummm....Owiery...Can you, by any chance, feel your hand?" Cota asked, biting his lip.

"...somewhat," Owiery answered as Cota and Derek helped him to his feet.

Derek grabbed the snitch from Owiery and shrunk it. The tinny little thing attacked him for shrinking it. "Oooo, I like it. It's got an attitude," Derek laughed.

Dumbledore came over and looked at the snitch. "I keep telling Thomas not to enchant the game balls. So what does he do?" Dumbledore asked.

"He enchants the game balls," Lilly smiled.

Sirius, Peter, Remus and James all exchanged a 'good man' and a 'why didn't we think of that look. The 'good man' look because they felt a bit proud of the student for thinking of the plan and not caring what he was told, and the why didn't we think of that look was self explanatory.

'We have to teach OUR son that one' James mouthed to Lilly who doubled over laughing.

They started a new game and James caught the shrunken snitch after Cota scored two goals and Sirius scored one. The third game Owiery was no match for James and he caught the snitch only moments after it was released. The all congratulated the winners and headed home. Derek, Cota and Owiery fought to keep their emotions under control.

They had been taught how at the academy, but it seemed harder now because Sirius had let his guard down and everyone was high on the sensation of victory. They neared the house and Cota yawned in order to keep away a laugh. James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus hopped off the horses and Cota volunteered to put them away because the other team had won. The 'winners' accepted Cota's offer. Cota, Derek and Owiery started putting the horses away as everyone else talked.

"I'm going to explode if they don't hurry up," Derek whispered.

Owiery and Cota both nodded and quickly put the horses away. Then they joined the rest of the group as it headed inside. Owiery pointed out that these were the prank masters so they needed to add one more thing. A loosing team. Cota, Derek and Owiery headed toward the house first and nearly reached the door.

"Wait, winners first," Owiery reminded them and they pretended to nod reluctantly and moved aside. Sirius, James, Peter and Remus stepped in front of them and headed toward the house. As Lilly went to follow Owiery and Cota put there arms out, blocking the way. When she gave a confused look Cota just shook his head as him and Owiery dropped their arms.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, Mrs. Lilly," Cota stated, his voice was evocatively smooth.

About three steps from the house they heard someone trip the wire. Sirius looked up and saw a wave of snow coming toward them.

"Holy sh-"was all he had time to whisper as the snow plowed over them. Cota, Owiery and Derek had stopped just out of range and were looking at the snow in a curious manner. James was the first to break through the snow and into the light.

"Hmm...How'd that happed?" Cota asked, still maintaining his quizzical look.

"That's what I'd like to know," Remus growled as he clawed his way to the surface.

Lilly couldn't help but laugh and Dumbledore found it his duty to inform the 'winners' that they had been out pranked.

"This is the beginning of a war you know," Peter squealed as he squirmed out of the snow.

Cota looked at Derek and Owiery; they returned his look and finally busted out laughing. Owiery tried not to, but he couldn't help himself. Sirius came through the snow to see three young riders doubled over laughing; Peter ranting on about how this meant war and Remus and James staring in bewilderment.

"How on earth did they do this? We watched the house all morning." Remus was mumbling.

Owiery and Derek nodded to Cota, they were satisfied and decided to go ahead and tell them how they did it instead of holding it over their heads.

"We talked about it last night way after everyone had gone to sleep, then this morning when you sent us up ahead we galloped there and then circled around to set this up," Cota explained.

"I never would have suspected that," Sirius said suddenly, and much to everyone's amazement.