Misthea - Thanks! I try to make my stories as realistic/stupid/weird as possible .

Celebrean - ;-; I know... my poor dancing chicken. I got over it though, the manufacturers were able to give my chicken back! Though, he was dead, wrapped in plastic, and labeled Farmers' Market. I must say though, that dancing chicken tasted delicious :p! Also, hyperness is a cool thing! At times it makes you do thing you never thought you could !

Author's Note: Getting tired of the notes I leave for you yet? . If you're reading the note right now, apparently not. I must mention that JK Rowling said that James was a chaser and the movies said that James had been awarded for being a seeker. So I decided to mix those two thoughts together ! So please don't tell me that quote unquote: JAMES WAS A CHASER. Cause I know these things... . I find this chapter kinda random, but yeah, I guess I'll have to live with that.

Chapter 9: The Problem

It appeared as though Dumbledore didn't lie to them at all, and James was quite relieved to see Remus the next morning; though he seemed quite exhausted, batter up, and his hair seemed to have trimmed down a bit. Whenever they tried asking him about it, Remus merely laughed and told them that it was nothing that they should really worry about.

"So exactly what did Professor Dumbledore have you do?" Peter asked that first morning of November at breakfast time in the Great Hall.

"It looks like he made you do hard labor." Said James swiftly grabbing for another pastry. "You look parched!"

Remus didn't really look like he had been listening to James and Peter for it appeared as though his large appetite had taken over again. He ate mouth full after mouth full of delicious goodies and at times he'd glance at his friends' plates as ask, "Are you going to finish that?" You would have thought that Remus hadn't eaten a single thing in the last month if you saw how much food he jammed into his mouth.

James, Sirius, and Peter stared at him and quickly lost their hunger for more food. They silently decided that Remus probably needed the food since he didn't eat the day before. It was quite strange though, usually a person doesn't eat that much even if they hadn't eaten for one week, and this made them wonder whether what Remus said before about 'not eating anything decent in weeks' was a true statement.

Remus seemed to have noticed the silent stares from his friends because he suddenly looked up from his plate and flushed with embarrassment. "Sorry, am I hogging all the food?" he asked pushing his plate away from him and smiling nervously.

"Nah, it's all right, mate!" Sirius smirked resting his arm on James' shoulder. "You had work to do yesterday, so eat to your hearts content!"

Remus' face seemed to flush a deeper red as he shook his head vigorously. James smiled cheerfully at Remus then turned his attention elsewhere and said, "Mail's here."

Once again, another flock of owls swooped in; Cinder had once again dropped James a nice letter from his mother. It mainly asked he how was doing, how everything was going at home, and how his parents spent Halloween; James couldn't help but press a large smile across his sleepy face. Peter didn't receive anything this time around, and as usual, Remus didn't get anything either.

"Oy, Remus—"

"Who do you suppose that belongs to?" squealed a familiar voice from the Slytherin table. James seemed rather annoyed by this interruption for it was the second time he tried asking the question to Remus. The voice had come from none other than Sirius's cousin, Bellatrix. Rodolphus and his older brother, Rabastan Lestrange, sat beside her pointing at something and laughing hysterically.

This caught the attention of nearly everyone in the Great Hall and they looked up to see what looked like an extremely old owl carrying an envelope, a red envelope. Everyone in the Great Hall instantly knew what it was, a howler. James stared at the old bird as it glided closer toward them, and he realized to whom the letter was for; it was for Sirius.

James glanced at Sirius who stared at the letter with a look of despise and frustration. As the letter landed in front of them, the owl swooped away silently leaving everyone in the room to do nothing but stare at Sirius. Bellatrix smiled sinisterly and continued to eat carelessly. Peter and Remus stared it, their eyes looking with disbelief at the envelope.

"Quick, Black!" urged one of the Gryffindors who appeared to be in his third year. "Open it before it explodes!"

Sirius shook his head and yelled out, "I'm not opening that thing!" He pushed himself backward away from the table and away from the envelope; the envelope had begun to sizzle…

"Com'on, Black," said the voice of Severus Snape from somewhere, "You're not scared, are you? We're all going to hear the message either way."

James glared harshly at Snape causing the smirk from his face to fade. Peter as well as everyone else who sat near the envelope had backed away leaving only James, Remus, and Sirius sitting down. Sirius seemed to tremble slightly as he extended his hand to open the envelope, but too late; it had burst into flames and a loud scream was heard causing everyone to cover their ears.

Remus was knocked to the floor by the outburst and James's glasses had cracked from the high-pitched scream. Over the noise James heard Sirius scream: "STUPID WOMAN! SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"

When the screaming had finally ceased, howling and yelling filled the Great Hall. Sirius' face was red with anger and he was trying his best to find out how to make it stop.

"How dare you not even look at those letters I sent you!" shouted the voice, who James figured must be Mrs. Black. "SIRIUS BLACK! YOU ARE THE WOR—"

"I SAID SHUT UP, WOMAN!" Sirius bellowed at the top of his lungs, pulled out his wand, and screamed, "Evanesco!"

The yelling, howling, and screaming ceased instantly and many of the students seemed quite shaken while other found it rather humorous. Sirius breathed in and out staring at where the letter had exploded; there was no trace of it anywhere.

Students began filing out quickly and even more silent than before leaving a whimpering Peter, an awestruck Remus, a worried James, and an angry Sirius behind. Sirius sighed in relief, pocketed his wand, and turned to James and gave a fake smile. James also sighed and tried to smile back. Peter got down on his knees and stared up at Sirius in awe and fear. The other three looked down at Peter; Sirius raised his eyebrow in a questioning manor.

"Y—You used the vanishing spell!" Peter gasped. Sirius couldn't help but laugh. "We're supposed to learn that in our fifth year!"

James instantly knew that Peter was trying to get away from the topic of what had happened only a few minutes ago, and Sirius's face didn't seem as red as it had been. He shrugged his shoulders and decided to join in.

"It pays to read ahead." Said James briskly. "So shall we prepare for class?"

"That would be a good idea." Remus implored, motioning them to look behind them. "Erm…Good day to you Mr. Filch."

"I heard what happened…You—Black and Potter—detention!" Filch sneered grabbing the both of them by their cloaks.

"Detention?" Remus repeated taking a few steps toward Filch, "They did nothing wrong."

Filch seemed to survey Remus suspiciously then he smiled evilly, showing his decaying, yellow, and missing teeth.

"You're Lupin?" Filch grumbled, "Yer 'friends' have been learning spells they ain't supposed to. That's enough proof for detention!"

Remus and Peter were left standing there, their mouths agape with nothing else to say. Filch dragged both James and Sirius to his office to find a 'fitting' punishment for the both of them.

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"He just made that up." James shrugged as they four of them sat in the common room after their classes. "Do you think he has something against us?"

"Unlikely." Sirius scoffed running his hand through his hair to keep it out of his face. He still seemed angry about the incident that happened that morning, but he wasn't as angry.

Filch had made them scrub floors for nearly four hours making them miss nearly half of their classes.

Remus had another large book open in front of him and he read each page looking at every single detail that lay on it. Peter had his quill in his hands and he pressed it against his mouth trying to figure out what to write in his essay. Sirius was also writing his essay without much thought and the scratching of his quill would continue without pause. James on the other hand was relaxing on one of the comfortable red chairs looking at the lot of them.

"Oy, Remus." James yawned, "I've been meaning to ask you."

Remus placed his finger on the word 'Chimaera' and looked up at James.

"Well, I haven't seen your owl, Remus." James said rumpling his hair, "I was wondering if you have one."

Remus shrugged.

"I can't lie to you anymore than I have to, James." Remus laughed looking back at his book. "No, I don't have an owl."

Sirius looked up from his essay and looked at Remus curiously. Neither Sirius nor James really knew what Remus meant, but it sounded almost like Remus was hiding a few secrets from them.

"So that's why you haven't received any mail from your family?" Peter asked tapping his quill on the parchment.

Remus seemed rather taken aback by the comment and a hint of pink spread along his cheeks. He then rested his arm on the table and pressed his forehead into his hand and simple replied, "No, Peter. That isn't the reason."

There was a brief silence that took place afterwards and they continued to work diligently on their homework. The scratching noises created by Sirius's quill seemed to fill the room and it seemed to keep everyone focused.

"Finished." Sirius sighed, dropping his quill and pulling up the parchment to read it.

"Want me to go over it?" asked Remus closing his book.

Sirius grinned widely at Remus, and James knew exactly what he was thinking.

"You don't need to," Sirius began folding up the parchment. "I already know I'm gonna pass this one."

The only person who didn't react to Sirius's comment was Peter. The yellow-head boy was having too much trouble with his essay to take the time to listen in.

"All right, Peter?" James asked looking at him.

"…I can't—this is too hard!" he said looking extremely frustrated.

"Need some help?" Remus asked walking toward Peter to look at his paper. "…This was an assignment that was due last week, Peter!"

Peter stared at the floor, how miserable poor little Peter must have felt at that moment. James hopped up from his comfortable seat and announced: "It's alright, Peter, I bet a trip to the kitchen'll make yah feel better!"

Peter's miserable face suddenly lit up and he jumped up from his seat, put away his books, and hobbled toward James excitedly. On Sirius's face there appeared a sly grin as he looked over at James carefully.

"So it's true." Remus said aloud, "You really found the Hogwarts' Kitchen?"

"Wha? Didn't Peter tell you?" came James' reply.

"Oh, he told me, but he didn't tell me in detail." Remus told them. "Peter mainly talked about how brave you and Sirius were."

Peter's face quickly turned to the color of a pale rose as he surveyed James' and Sirius' reactions to the comment. Sirius laughed with satisfaction and pride in his voice, while James gave a quick wink to Peter making him feel even more embarrassed. James was about to go up to his dormitory to get a hold of his invisibility cloak when Professor McGonagall stormed into the room looking rather flustered and aggravated.

"Potter!" she yelled out, placing her hands on her hips, "Potter, where are you?"

James jerked backwards as he heard his name called through Professor McGonagall's piercing voice. He slowly turned his head to look at her and stated, "Right here, Professor…"

"Good grief! I've been looking everywhere for you!" she shrieked grabbing James by his collar and out of the common room. Sirius, Remus, and Peter reluctantly followed, but made sure they didn't get in the way of their Professor. James winced slightly at her sharp tug, but he decided not to complain about it.

She dragged him all the way down to the Quidditch grounds, and they faced another group of Gryffindors that were looking at James with great worry. James, in turn, looked back at them with enormous concern on why he was here; it was quite apparent that this group of Gryffindors was in fact the Gryffindor Quidditch Team.

"He be our substitute." Said Professor McGonagall patting James on the shoulder. "Madam Hooch has put him on the list already for next year and I'll take her word for it. You needed a substitute, you've got one."

James' mouth hung open, and his heart raced like never before. Would he substitute a chaser just like he told Madam Hooch?

"Okay, Potter." Said a girl with dark brown hair and amber eyes. "Do you mind substituting as a seeker? Of course, this will only be for the first match. Our original seeker is in the Infirmary and I suppose he will be out before the first match."

"A-A seeker?" James murmured, "I don't know if I can—"

"That's great! Okay, we'll begin training right now, do you mind using one of the school brooms?" asked the girl again beaming brightly at him.

"B-But I wanted to be a cha—"

"Here take this, I'll go let out the golden snitch!"

The girl tossed her broom over to James and he stumbled backwards from impact. Everything was happening so quickly, why was he going to be a seeker? They haven't even seen him fly, and they want him to have a job that important? It would be for just this once and it would also be a really great experience for him.

On the other hand, the first Quidditch game was in two days and he's never actually played as a seeker nonetheless play in a competitive game of Quidditch. This didn't seem to bode well for him at all, the only thing he could do now was practice and hope he doesn't get killed in the process.

::TO BE BLAH BLAH::

Next Chapter: Versus Slytherin

I'm completely unoriginal... But that doesn't stop me.

Please review. (and tell me just how yeh feel, mates! No, I don't want your life story though.)