The Unsung Heroes
Remus Lupin
Remus reread the same sentence for what seemed like the hundredth time before setting his book. He couldn't seem to concentrate and soon found out why. Sirius was starring at him from across the room with his eyes as big as saucers. He always did this when he wanted Remus' attention.
"What!" Remus mouthed back. All of a sudden, Sirius went into a series of hand movements. Remus could only assume that Sirius was trying to tell him something. The bell rang and Remus got up and gathered hi stuff. Sirius rushed to where Remus was standing.
"Did you get that?" Sirius asked.
"Sirius, the only that I got from all your hand movements is that you're crazy." Remus said.
"I can't believe we've been best mates for over 6 years and we still don't have a secret hand language thing." Sirius whined and Remus chuckled.
"Get over it mate." James said as he came up from behind them with Lily. Peter walked up to the four of them and let out a discouraged sigh.
"What's up Pete?" Sirius asked.
"Failed another essay. Do you think one of you could help me out with my remedial essay?" Peter asked hopefully.
"Well I have to go to the library." Remus said quickly but was drowned out by Sirius declaring he had a date. James was still working on his excuse. Peter sighed again and the three other Marauders exchanged glances.
"All right, the on the highest grade on their papers will help Pete out." Remus said. "Show your papers on the count of three…1…2…3!" James, Remus and Sirius whipped out their papers.
"You got 100?" Remus asked Sirius who looked at his paper in surprise.
"Hey…would you look at that? I guess I did." Sirius said happily.
"Well, you know what that means…you now have a date with Peter and his textbooks." James said with a grin and Sirius groaned.
"What's her name is not going to be happy that I have to cancel." Sirius grumbled but lit up as he remembered the thing he wanted to tell Remus. "Oh! Halloween is in like 3 days and we all know what that mean…the Marauders annual Halloween prank!" Sirius said, forgetting that Lily was with them. "I mean…queen…tank." He added, finally realising.
"Can't I be involved?" Lily asked and Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Of course you can." James said as he glared at Sirius who stuck his tongue out in disgust.
Remus did not know how to act. He liked Lily but this was the Marauders annual prank and unfortunately she was not a Marauder.
"So what is your brilliant plan then Sirius?" James asked.
"Let's just say, I have 100 pumpkins and the passwords to all of Hogwarts' houses." Sirius responded, grinning slyly.
"All right, here's what will happen. Our last class tomorrow is Charms. At exactly 1400 hours, Lily will ask Flitwick to go to the restroom. 25 pumpkins have been hidden in a nearby closet and all you have to do is levitate them into the common room and put them in hidden spots. You should be able to do this in 10 minutes." Sirius began to explain.
"Sirius! Have you gone mad? The chances that we don't get caught are slim to none! People will see us! Filch prowls the halls when classes are in session and portraits are also known to gossip!" Lily said hysterically.
"Relax Lils; I know what I'm doing." Sirius assured her. "Peeves said he would keep Filch busy and I know the portraits quite well and if they give you trouble, just say you know me." He added as he realised that Lily was still unconvinced.
"Trust him, Lils. He spends more time on this kind of thing than his own homework." James said and Sirius stuck his tongue out at him.
"All right, now on to the three other houses. Slytherin goes to James, Remus will take care of the Hufflepuffs and I'll do our own house. Soon after Lily returns, I'll cast a vomit charm on myself and James and Remus will escort me out of class. You know the rest from there." Sirius said and the others nodded. "Good…as for the rest of the prank; you'll just have to wait and see." He said with a big grin and the others could do nothing but guess the outcome.
Remus smiled as Lily came through the door and went to sit in her seat. Sirius glared at her and pointed at his watch. Apparently, she was a minute late. She ignored Sirius' looks and went back to work. Seconds later, Sirius pointed his wand at his stomach and whispered the vomit curse. Suddenly, he was on all fours, hacking up everything he had eaten for lunch. Remus picked him up while James told Flitwick they would escort Sirius to the hospital wing. Remus held Sirius away from him as he continued to vomit while he was attempting to get out of the classroom. Many girls shrieked once Sirius had passed and made no effort at covering his mouth before he was sick. Once they were out of the classroom, Sirius collapsed but Remus caught him. James said the healing charm and Remus gently stood Sirius back up again. He wobbled slightly and was deathly pale but would survive. The three boys separated and Remus made his way to the Hufflepuff house. He found the pumpkins and levitated them through the portrait. It didn't take him long to hide them all. He made it back to the Gryffindor house in less than half an hour. He saw that Sirius was napping by the fire but woke up when Remus attempted to get by him.
"How are you feeling?" Remus asked with concern.
"Like there was a better way to get out of class." Sirius answered groggily. "Anyway, how did it go?" He asked as he got up but sat right back down.
"It went well…is James not back yet?" Remus asked and Sirius shook his head. Abruptly, the portrait swung open and James walked in with Lily by his side. Other students also filed in and dropped their books in their rooms before heading down to the great hall. Sirius said goodbye to the Marauders and Lily as they joined the crowd. He would be staying because he didn't feel well, which Remus suspected was at least half true. The feast appeared seconds after they sat down and Sirius arrived soon after that.
"What are you doing here?" Lily whispered urgently and Sirius shrugged.
"I'm hungry." He said between mouthfuls.
After the feast was finished, the students made their ways back to their houses. It wasn't long before screams of disgust echoed the halls. Remus found out why as he went through the portrait. Pumpkin guts were anywhere and everywhere. Students shrieked as they saw ruined papers and books. McGonagall came in and silenced the crowd. She rolled her eyes at the prank and said a simple cleanup spell but not only did the pumpkin guts not leave, a foul smell was now wafting through the air.
"Sirius! Counter curse now!" McGonagall yelled.
"But Professor…" Sirius answered.
"Now and you won't be punished." McGonagall said as she tried to keep her composure and not let the smell get to her. Sirius sighed and waved his wand. The pumpkin guts and the smell vanished leaving a series of fireworks that spelled out "Happy Halloween" across the common room.
James Potter
James grinned as he observed his team from the stands. He was glad Remus and Sirius fit well with the team and was even happier that the Gryffindor quidditch team was gaining speed and accuracy each time they practiced. Sirius was now getting to be the flyer that James always knew he could be. He was the second fastest on the team and was probably the most technical. He mastered the art of flying while standing up and was now trying to practice flipping off his broom. Remus was doing excellent as keeper. Everyday, James would practice Remus' reflexes by throwing objects at him and see if he could catch them. And without even realising, Remus was improving. James also uncovered Remus' dodging skills. It wasn't long before Sirius and Remus became target practice for the beaters. All in all, the Gryffindors were likely to take home the cup at the end of the season.
James got up and whistled for his team to come down. Jake Masters caught both of the bludgers and struggled as he flew down to the ground. Remus brought the quaffle and helped Jake buckled the bludgers into the trunk. Sirius chased the twittering snitch until he finally caught it and brought it down.
"This is why I'm a chaser." James heard Sirius yell from above him and the team laughed. Jill, Matthew and Scott were already with James and were waiting patiently for James to give them a pep talk. Once his team was assembled, James began his well-rehearsed speech.
"As you all know, we are playing Hufflepuff this Saturday and it'll be an easy opening game for us but that doesn't mean we should go easy on them. The more points we have, the more likely it is for us to be in the final. Two out of the three chasers are weak so Remus, you will have an easy game but keep your eye open anyway. The only Chaser that I want the beaters to concentrate most of their bludger work on will be Connors but don't forget Hitch. He's the seeker and he was quite the record of catching the snitch early in the game. Matthew, Sirius and I will play offensively and get as many goals as we can. Jill…all I'm asking is for you to catch that snitch before Hitch does."
"Got it." Jill responded with a look of determination in her eyes.
"Good, you guys can do this…not to put any pressure on you all but I really really want to win." James said and the team laughed.
"Are you kidding Potter? Do you really think there's a chance that we lose?" Sirius joked and James laughed.
"With you on the team?…Yes." James teased and Sirius punched him playfully.
"Oy!" The Gryffindors heard from the stands and turned around. It was the entire Slytherin team and a couple of other Slytherins of their year.
"What do you want?" James yelled from where he stood and Rabastan got up and walked to where he stood. The Slytherins followed their leader but James was not afraid, he knew Sirius and Remus were behind him.
"Just checking out the competition. If you call this competition." Rabastan smirked.
"Why don't you go back to the dungeons you worthless snake?" James snapped back. Suddenly, there were 8 wands pointed at his face. Sirius sneezed and the Slytherins all caught fire. The Gryffindors laughed openly while watching the Slytherins scream and run into each other as they attempted to put out the fire. They ran away from the qudditch pitch but not before giving the look of pure loathing. James knew that this wouldn't be the end of it. He turned around to look at Sirius questioningly who stared back at him innocently. James raised his eyebrow and Sirius gave in. He pulled up his sleeve and revealed his wand.
"It was worth the detention." Sirius said knowing that James would have to punish him but James was thinking that we would let it slide this time.
Sirius Black
It was 6 o'clock in the morning and Sirius still hadn't managed to fall asleep despite all of his attempts. He was insomniac but it didn't help that would be playing his very first quidditch game in four hours. Sirius groaned and got out of bed. He tiptoed down the stairs and went through the portrait out of the common room. He walked silently through the halls and tried to clear his head.
"Sirius?" He heard as he passed McGonagall's office. He went back and entered her office. "Can't sleep?" She asked and Sirius nodded. "Nervous about the game?"
"I guess I am…it's hard for me because I've never felt this much pressure to do well. Well except with my parents but that was different because I didn't really care what they thought but this time I care. I just don't want to let anyone down…especially James. He believes in me way too much. He thinks I'm as good as he is but I'm really…not." Sirius explained.
"From the way James talks about you, I would've thought you'd be just as good. And I still think that because I believe James knows what he's talking about." McGonagall assured Sirius.
"Professor…I've always been alone and all my accomplishments were for me but now…I share with my whole house." Sirius said and McGonagall nodded.
"You should be happy that you get a chance to make up for all the points that you lost for your house during previous years." McGonagall said and Sirius smiled at her.
"Well I suppose I should get back to my house. James will have a fit if he knows that I've been up all night." Sirius said as he got up and left.
Sirius made his way back to the Gryffindor house and went through the portrait. He immediately saw 5 sleepy teammates and a very alert captain.
"Where have you been? Never mind, sit down." James shouted and Sirius cringed and sat down without a word.
"All right, now that the whole team is here. We'll go down to breakfast before there's the morning rush. Oh! And Sirius…find some way to get your hair out of your eyes." James said before leading the team through the portrait. Remus stayed behind to help Sirius.
Sirius found scissors and passed them to Remus.
"Do it." Sirius said and Remus nodded grimly.
"What are you doing?" Lily asked before Remus could cut the silky black hair. "Come here Sirius." Lily said patiently and Sirius obeyed. Lily whipped out two elastics and gave Sirius two cute pigtails. "There…it's better than cutting." Lily said and Sirius grumbled.
The three of them made their way down to the great hall. Sirius endured the taunts of half the school. He didn't care; he believed he looked good in anything. After an hour, James led his team to the dressing room where they put their gear on. James talked about strategy while Sirius gazed into space.
He heard the roar of the crowd and felt the intensity of the oncoming game. He heard the Charlie the commentator announce the players of the opposing team. James gestured for his team to come to the door.
"And now for the Gryffindors! Lupin, Masters, Bell, Saunders, Read, Black and Potter!" Yelled Charles and the doors flew open. Sirius flew and grinned as he was deafened by the yells of the crowd. He noticed Lily was holding a poster that kept changing names between him, James and Remus.
Lily Evans
Lily watched as James went over to shake Connors hand. This should be a good game for the Gryffindors because the Hufflepuffs were not known to play dirty. Lily screamed for the Gryffindors as they lined up. She noticed that Remus looked at little jittery as he held his broom and waited for the whistle. She had never seen him look so nervous. The whistle blew and James immediately caught the quaffle and sent it to Sirius. Sirius streaked up the center and back passed it to James who shot it far right and scored. The Gryffindor side cheered loudly for their hero. James and Sirius high-fived.
"GRYFFINDOR UP BY 10! Gryffindor chaser, Sirius Black, is really showing his worth." Charles yelled to the crowd who roared back at him.
The game went on like that. Although the snitch was nowhere to be seen, the Gryffindors scored on most of their occasions.
"Oh! And Sirius passes it to nobody…oh wait! James is flying by. These two must communicate telepathically!" Charles commentated.
Lily watched as Sirius flew by but stopped in midair. He wriggled for a minute as he shoved his hand up his sleeve a pulled out the golden snitch. Everyone fell silent until Lily got up and screamed "all right Sirius". The crowd roared and James flew by and jumped on Sirius causing them both to fall to the ground. Remus joined them seconds later along with the others. It was a big huddle of gold and scarlet and Lily cheered her hardest. The Gryffindors had won their first game 210-0. Lily caught a glimpse of the Slytherins, they merely cracked their knuckles and watched the Gryffindors celebrate.