N/A: Hello, thank you to those who reviewed. : )
We finally come to the Festival Chapter. Now this one is really long (as those of you who have read it in the HP site know), so I'm going to have to divided it into three parts. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: I only own those characters that you do not recognize. ; )
Chapter 8 ~ The Halloween Festival
First part - Last Minute Preparations, Candy and Quidditch
Halloween morning was greeted with a lot of expectations and high spirits by all the students at Hogwarts. Lily and James were seen going from one place to another along with a prefect or two in tow.
"Make sure the boards on the stage are checked, we don't want an accident to happen during the middle of the afternoon and the band getting hurt." James was heard to say to a Hufflepuf prefect as they quickly went down a corridor.
"Taken care of, Ogg had the same concern and asked Hagrid to check them this morning." The prefect replied.
"Good."
In another part of the castle Lily was heard saying to the Ravenclaw and Slytherin prefects.
"I need you to go to Madam Hooch's office and gather the equipment we need for the Quidditch contests, she said that they would be ready in her office."
"Very well, we'll do that, we have to go that way to give her a copy of the keepers schedules." Replied one of the Ravenclaw prefects.
"Good make sure that the keepers, are only scheduled to guard the posts for an hour and 15 minutes at a time, they need to have the opportunity to enjoy themselves. I know the Gryffindor keeper wants to spend time with his fiancé." Said Lily.
"Does Dara know what she's getting herself into? Tobias Wood is totally Quidditch crazy."
"He is no different than James. But let's continue. You two go to Madam Hooch, while you two go to the kitchen and make that all the food is ready, you don't have to do anything more the elves have volunteered to carry the food out, just see if everything is prepared. After that go to the grounds and see if the tents have been erected and the tables and chairs have been put out for the luncheon."
"All right, the tables with the umbrellas, do we need to check on those as well?" Asked one of the Slytherin prefects.
"No I did that earlier, they're all set. That's all for now, I have to go and find James, there is something else that we need to do. Have you eaten, I don't want you to get sick."
"We're full." Responded the prefects.
"Oh good, once all this is done make sure you rest before the luncheon starts, there won't be time once the Festival begins. Well go on." Lily shooed them away, and then she turned in direction to the Great Hall, unlike the prefects she had not eaten yet.
The Great Hall was full and excited chatter permeated the air.
"I'm going into Hogsmead for just a little while, I want to return early so I can be on time to see the beginning of all the events." Said a student in the Ravenclaw table.
"Didn't you sign up for anything? I signed up for all the Quidditch competitions." Responded his friend.
"No, I didn't want to compete against any of the Marauders, knowing them, they probably signed up for everything, we won't have much chance of winning if that is the case."
" I don't care if I don't win, it will still be fun, and I want to try getting the Quaffle past Wood. If you're not competing what are you going to do?"
"Promised Lizzie I was going to with her."
"Good luck!"
" I'm not going into Hogsmead. I volunteered to help the band to set up." Said a girl in the Hufflepuf table with a smug expression to her friend.
"Oh, you are so lucky, can I come? Please!"
"Hmmm...I suppose it would be all right. They promised to let me stay while they are checking the sound."
"Oh, how exciting."
Similar conversations were heard through out the tables. Some older students decided to stay behind and volunteer to help settle the tents, they didn't want to miss any of the excitement. It was for this reason that only a handful of carriages arrived to Hogsmead. The small town was also buzzing in excitement. The residents were also invited to attend and everybody planned to attend, after all it wasn't every day that Hogwarts hosted an event of this caliber. Businesses decided to close early and join the students on their way back to Hogwarts and take part in the luncheon that would open the celebration.
Some stores donated products to give away. Zonco's sent 25 boxes full of every single item they sold. The Three Broomsticks sent 20 barrels of butterbeer along with snacks. Honeydukes sent 50 boxes of their best selling candy. And Gladrags Wizardwear sent various boxes of everyday accessories as well as dress robes accessories.
Everybody wanted to participate in one way or another, the Festival had become newsworthy and as a result the Daily Prophet was sending a reporter to cover the event and everybody in Diagon Alley had heard of it that all major businesses sent their contribution. Boxes from Quality Quidditch Supplies, Eeylops Owl Emporium, Flourish and Blotts, the Magical Menagerie, and others, were received at Hogwarts.
As carriages left toward Hogsmead, Lily found herself entering the Great Hall. The Marauders, Katie and Emma were sitting at the Gryffindor table making plans for the morning.
"Hello Lily! Ready to eat something? James just came in too." Said Emma as she motioned toward James who had piled a large amount of food on his plate and he seemed to think it was not enough.
"Yes, I'm famished and there's still some things left to do."
"There are? I thought everything was taken care of! What is it now?" Quickly said James, he was looking forward to rest for a while.
"We have to open all the boxes we were sent and chose what we're going to do with them. I thought that we can use the best things for prizes for the minor games, and the rest put them in bags and we can give them to people as they start arriving." Said Lily as she grabbed two pieces of toast and butter, then she chose some fruit and cereal.
"That's all we're doing? Opening boxes and filling bags?" When Lily nodded, James continued. "Good, I can do that sitting down, my feet are killing me."
"Yes, it would be nice to just sit for a while, I told the prefects to rest for the morning, otherwise they are going to be too tired for the Festival."
"Why didn't we get volunteers for this then, we could do with a little rest also."
"James, do you remember what is in those boxes? We cannot let anyone near them without supervision."
"Oh you're right, they could be stolen." Moaned James, he really wanted to go to the common room and sleep in the couch.
"What could be stolen?" Butt in Sirius who had been listening attentively to Lily and James and just wanted to satisfy his curiosity.
"None of your business!" Snapped James.
"Fine, I could've help!"
"I'm not sure that would've been a good idea."
"Why not? I don't have anything else to do."
"Why didn't you go to Hogsmeade?"
"Because I wanted to stay here and not miss anything."
"James, we could use some help, and if we are done quickly we might even get some time to sleep for a couple of hours before we have to be out there." Said Lily.
"See, she says I can help." Said a smug Sirius.
"Fine he can help, I guess with us there to supervise it will be ok." Grudgingly responded James.
"I'm not a thief, I won't take anything." Exclaimed an outraged Sirius.
"Wait until you see what we're talking about." Replied James.
"Can we help too? We can keep an eye on Sirius for you." Cajoled Katie.
"I wouldn't mind helping, lack of sleep is making James grouchy, he needs to rest." Said Remus as he finished his breakfast.
"I'll help too, the more help you have the faster you will be done and the more time we'll have to get ready." Said Emma.
"I'll help, I don't have to meet Savalia until luncheon time, she's in Hogsmeade now." Commented Peter.
"You have a date?" Asked Sirius with a mischievous smile.
"Yes." Said Peter, warily taking note of that smile.
"And I'm sure she's a nice girl. Well if you lot want to help out, you better hurry and finish, I want to able to sleep for at least one hour." Said James, trying to take Sirius's mind off from teasing Peter, in his opinion they didn't have enough time.
"Oh that would be lovely, one whole hour of sleep." Sighed Lily.
"Well we're done." Said Sirius as he noticed that the rest of the group was not eating any longer.
"We might as well go then." James gathered his things and got ready to leave the table. "We need to go to the dungeons, that's where we stored the boxes."
"Didn't want anybody to find them did you?" Snorted Sirius.
The group slowly made it's way to the dungeons, James and Lily were constantly stopped by people who wanted to get last minute details and Sirius kept insisting on stopping at every window to see how the tents were coming along.
Finally they reached the dungeons. Lily opened the door at the end of a long corridor and the group saw the room full of boxes of different sizes. On the side of each box they could decipher the words: Flourish and Blotts, Zonco's, Honeydukes, and many others.
"What's all this?" Asked Sirius as the group slowly entered the room. James quickly brought in some torches and Lily gathered chairs.
"Giveaways, all these businesses sent products for as to give away during the Festival." Said Lily as she gathered the materials that they would need.
"You are joking!" Exclaimed Sirius, as he reverently opened a box from his favorite store in Hogsmeade, Zonco's, and found a large quantity of his favorite products. "oooohhhh!"
"I see why you didn't want anybody in here, this is a veritable treasure." Said Remus as he opened a box from Quality Quidditch Supplies and took out a pack of cards with the pictures of the English National Team.
"Oh Emma look at this, isn't it lovely this would go nicely with your set of silver robes." Sighed Katie as she took out a silver pin from the box sent by Gladrags Wizardwear.
"Could we please contain ourselves?" Complained James, who for the first time didn't care to find out what kind of Quidditch supplies had be sent, all he wanted was some time to rest.
"I tell you what, if we finish this in record time, I will allow you to chose one item of each box for you to keep, deal?" Asked Lily, she didn't think James could handle more than a couple of hours, and she didn't blame him. She was just as tired.
"Deal!" Said the others.
"Good what we need to do is chose the best products, those will be for the prizes in the minor events, the rest will be put in these bags, put some candy in and an item from each box." Lily demonstrated how she wanted them to do, she took a handful of candy from the Honeyduke's box then went around the other boxes picking one item and putting them into the bag.
They divided the boxes among each other and as if they were factory workers, they passed the bag from one to the other each putting in an item form a different box. For an hour they worked in this manner at the end of which they had a large number of bags filled and an equal number of empty boxes.
"Very well, I think that's that. Let's put all of these bags in the empty boxes, I'll ask the prefects to help us take them out when it's time for luncheon." Said James very happy that it didn't take long to be done.
"We have two hours until luncheon, I am going to sleep for an hour at least, can you wake me at 10 so that I can get ready?" Said Lily to Katie and Emma as they started to leave the room. Everybody was carrying some bags in their arms with the items they had chosen for themselves.
"Don't worry, we will." Said Emma as the group made it's way to the common room.
At 11 a.m. students and residents of Hogsmeade made their way to the grounds near the lake a large tent had been erected and a buffet table was placed at one side loaded with all kind of food. As soon as everybody was sitting, Dumbledore stood from his place at the table of honor and addressed his audience.
"Welcome everyone to our Halloween Festival, I hope you all have lots of fun, but first I would like to ask you to please give a round of applause to our Head Boy and Girl, Lily and James, who with the help of all the house prefects, have organized to bring us this treat."
Applause filled the air as James, Lily and the prefects made their bows, when the applause ended, Dumbledore spoke once more.
"Now I would like to remind you that we are still in Hogwarts and the rules are not to be forgotten. I want you all to remember that even if you don't win, you had fun. Now let the games begin!"
Applause filled the air once more. All of those present made their way to the buffet table and started to pile food on their plates, the line slowly moved as people chatted and laughed with their friends.
In a table in the middle, a blond 7th year slytherin was talking to her friends, her name was Jezebel and at the moment was making plans to attract the attention of a certain Gryffindor.
"Which game do you think he will supervise Jezy?" A girl in the group asked.
"I'm sure he will be in the Quidditch pitch the whole day, Evans would want to keep him entertained and the only thing that will do so is Quidditch." Jezebel replied. Jezebel Robinson was, part of the elite group called the Vixens, which was mainly comprised of 7th year Slytherin students. Jezebel was the leader of the group and their goal in life was to get what they wanted no matter what they had to do to get it.
"I'm not sure if we should go there, he might be too busy flying around. Honestly I don't understand what they see in that game, it makes no sense to me." Replied Jezebel's best friend, Narcissa Mulliens.
"You'll be with my cousin Narcy, I'm sure Lucius will want to go to the Quidditch pitch as well, you must get used to it." Smiled Jezebel, she didn't look at Narcissa as she spoke she was too busy keeping her eyes on James, who was sitting at the table of honor next to Lily.
"We need a good excuse to get in there without calling much attention. Three girls alone in the Quidditch pitch might not call that much attention if it was just anybody, but everybody knows we don't enjoy Quidditch as much as they do we will turn heads but not in the way we would like to do. If we go with you and Lucius nobody will think twice about it." Said Maureen Avery the last member of the group.
"Yeah that would work, we just need to get in there without calling undue attention, I will take care of things from then on. Who is going with you Maureen?" Jezebel finally looked away from James and turned to look at her friends.
"Severus."
"Good choice, he's pure blood and in our house."
"If you're so concerned with that, how can you even think of James Potter as a prospective mate?"
"He is pure blood, it is a shame that he belongs to Gryffindor, but it's not his fault, after all his family is descended from Gryffindor himself. But his family is rich and one of the most influential in our world, how could I not think of him as a prospective spouse."
"Well I wish you luck, you're going to need it with him." Replied Narcissa.
"Don't worry, I don't need luck."
The luncheon went on according to plan, James and Lily couldn't be any happier. The band started to play and people made their way to the dance floor as they finished eating and waited for the competitions to begin.
"I will go to the prefects and tell them to take their place is time for the competitions to start." Whispered James to Lily as he prepared to leave the table.
"All right, I guess we should begin now, then." Lily responded. The Head Students left the table, soon the prefects followed. Minutes later groups of students were seen leaving the dance floor and the luncheon site to start competing and have fun.
"Sirius, where are you taking me?" Asked Katie as Sirius pulled her by the arm.
"To the Quidditch pitch of course. I want to go first before it gets too full of people."
"Why do you worry so much, you know you're a great player, one of the best in fact."
"If I didn't know you I would've thought that was a compliment." Said Sirius stopping and looking back at her.
"You are right, I just wanted you to slow down." She said and with a smile continued on her way.
"Will you be in the Quidditch competition as well?" Asked Emma as she and Remus walked behind Sirius and Katie.
"No I'm not as good as James or Sirius, and I don't want to make a fool of myself out there." Said Remus.
"I'm sure you could never make a fool of yourself, you're a good flier you practice with them all the time, you could've done good." Emma said as she looked at him behind her lashes, Remus grinned.
"You think so?"
"I know so."
The foursome arrived at the Quidditch pitch. The stands were rapidly filling up with spectators as well as competitors. The pitch had been divided into sections, two areas had been charmed to be encircled by a kind of invisible barrier, one was around the goal rings at one end of the pitch, and the other was at the other end of the pitch, where the snitch was released. The rest of the space had been left for the bludger competition. People filled the bleachers and competitors started to move toward the field.
"Peter, aren't you joining?" Asked Sirius, as he got ready to move toward the pitch.
"Nope, decided to just stay here at the bleachers and cheer for you instead." Peter had come in with his date, Savialia Chang a 7th year Ravenclaw, she was petite, brunette and with deep light brown eyes, they were both eating cotton candy which quickly caught Sirius' attention.
"Where did you get those?"
"At the snack stand just outside the pitch."
"I'll be right back, I got to get me one of those." Sirius turned to the exit of the pitch but felt somebody pulling at his sleeve.
"Oh no you're not. You dragged me in here Sirius Black to be among the first and I'm not going to wait more than necessary just because you have a craving for cotton candy, you better take yourself down there and win this competition before we go out there, then you can eat as much as you want. Now go!" Sirius was very surprised by the forcefulness in Katie's voice that he didn't even think of arguing with her, he just turned back to his previous direction and joined the rest of the competitors as they made their way to the pitch.
"Poor Sirius, you didn't have to mean to him." Said a kindhearted Savialia as she saw Sirius walk away with slumped shoulders.
"Oh don't worry about him, he will forget all about it when he gets up on his broom and is totally engrossed in the competition." Replied Remus, as he made room on the bleachers for Peter and Savialia.
"If you say so." Said Savialia, but by the skeptic glance she threw at him it was clear that she didn't believe it.
"How did you two meet?" Asked Emma, who was very curious to know how Peter came to have a date. She had never thought of Peter as someone who girls might want to date.
"We met last summer, at the beach where my family went for vacation. We bumped into each other, literally, and started to talk and we found out that we both came to Hogwarts so we agreed to meet once more once we got here." Related Peter, and Savialia just nodded her head as he told the story.
"That's nice, do you go to the beach every year Savialia?" Asked Katie.
"Yes, my family owns a beach house and we go there every summer." Said Savialia after she finished all the candy and got ready to look at the competition that had just started down at the pitch.
"Is Sirius going soon?" Asked Peter turning his attention to the pitch.
"No, not yet, he's waiting there, see him? There are two more people in front of him." Said Remus as he caught sight of Sirius.
"What are they doing here?" Said Katie with disgust in her tone.
"Who?" Asked Emma and Savialia. Peter and Remus were too engrossed in looking at the competition that they had left the girls to amuse themselves.
"There near the pitch just were the judges are, see them?" Said Katie motioning where she wanted the others to see. She had been told by her parents many times that pointing was not done by a lady.
"Ugh! Probably flirting with the judges to gain points for Malfoy and Snape." Said Emma as she spotted the group that had attracted Katie's attention.
"I think she's flirting with James." Said Savialia.
"She isn't!" Gasped Katie.
"She is!" Replied Emma.
Down in the Quidditch pitch, James had been running from one place to the other making sure that all was in place for the competition to begin. He was quite thrilled at the sight of so many people that had arrived to see and join in the competition.
"It seems to be going good, James, I congratulate you." Said Madam Hooch as she scanned the bleachers, which were rapidly filling.
"Yes James, yeh must be 'appy." Smiled Hagrid; the kindhearted assistant to the old gamekeeper.
"I'm glad that everything has gone on with out a hitch, and I'm sure that Lily will feel so as well." Said James smiling, he was really happy that so far the day had been a success. His friends would've said that he was ecstatic.
"Will your friends be joining Mr. Potter?" Madam Hooch asked.
"Sirius will be competing, the others I'm not so sure." Replied James as he looked toward the field and saw the competitors getting ready to begin.
"He is goin' to make it hard for others to win." Chuckled Hagrid.
"He will certainly try, he wants the autographed quaffle and robes, as well as the broom." Laughed James.
"Mr. Potter, it seems that you have visitors, they have been trying to attract your attention for quite a while." Said Madam Hooch as she looked toward the stands. James turned thinking that she was talking about Peter and Remus with the girls. He was wrong. He was very well acquainted with the group that was waving in his direction, The Vixens they were called, he didn't remember how they had gotten their name but they certainly lived up to it. Jezebel Robinson was the leader of the group, blond hair, slender body and height above average, she was certainly considered to be among the prime catches among the male population, she was also egotistical, a snob, and too spoiled by her rich parents; she also liked to have around her people who were just like her. The other two members of the group certainly fit that description, Narcissa Mulliens and Maureen Avery, were just as full of themselves as Jezebel was, only interested in the bloodlines and social standing of their acquaintances. James was not very happy to be thought part of that elite social group to which all of them belonged to. But he had no choice, his family was acquainted to all the major families of the magical world and to snub the members of three of some of these families would put him in his mother's black book, not to mention his father, who considered appearances to be of the outmost importance. He made sure the judges had everything they would need and walked toward the group standing on the lower steps of the bleachers.
"Well, hello there James, we don't have much opportunity to see each other during the pasts months. I must congratulate you, you seem to have done a great job." Said Jezebel in a husky voice fluttering her eyes.
"Thank you Jezebel but I didn't do this alone you know." Replied James as he nodded toward the other two girls.
"Oh but you must have been the mastermind behind this event, after all only a fun loving personality would've come with this idea, somehow I don't see Evans thinking of something like this." Continued Jezebel, her limpid blue eyes widening as she said this.
"Oh you could never know what Lily is capable of." James didn't understand why he was defending Lily, she wouldn't be pleased about it she would say that she could defend herself very well, and it was not like Jezebel was insulting her.
"Oh I'm sure that she made her contribution, after all, I've been told she is a clever girl, she would not be Head Girl if she wasn't." Soothed Jezebel, she knew that James didn't like to hear others being belittled, it would have to be something she would have to work on once she had him in her grasp.
"Are you girls joining in some of the competitions?" Asked James, he was trying to think of something that would make them leave and he knew that they didn't find Quidditch very enjoyable.
"Oh no, you know we don't like this much, we were just keeping company while we wait for Severus and Lucius."
"Hmmm.well, I hope you still have fun even if you don't compete."
"What about you James? Don't tell me you have to stay here the whole day." Said Jezebel in a feign note of concern.
"Pretty much, don't have much free time except maybe to stretch my legs once in a while for a couple of minutes."
"Oh, how horrid for you! I was hoping you might like to join me at the dance floor for a little while." Moaned Jezebel, who did had plans to spend time with James, it seemed that her plans would have to wait. That Evans certainly knew how to keep a guy from having fun.
"Well, sorry, don't think I will have any free time to do so. I have to go now, lots to do this afternoon." James said his goodbyes and turned back to the field.
"I'm sorry Jezy, I know you had plans for James today." Said Narcissa as they saw James walking away. She wasn't really sorry, she didn't like that Jezebel sometimes grabbed more attention from the boys than she did, and the thought of Jezebel with out a date for one of the most important events of the year was very satisfying.
"Oh I'm sure you are, but don't worry I will get what I want, I just hadn't counted on Evans being clever enough to assign him something that would certainly make him fulfill his duty."
"I'm sure you will think of a way Jezy, but let's sit, there is no reason for us to stay here any longer." Said Maureen. The others agreed and joined the crowd of spectators who were ready to cheer their favorite.
On the bleachers, Emma, Katie and Savialia, watched as the Slytherin group talked to James, they were too far to see the expression on their faces or to hear anything, but they had a good idea of what it could be. The whole school knew of Jezebel's Robinson plans about James, she was too full of herself to keep it quiet. But the girls had other plans for James, and they would not allow Jezebel to ruin it for them. They breathed a sigh of relief when they saw James walk back to the field.
"That was nerve-racking, we have to do something to get Lily and James together soon otherwise that hussy will eventually get to James." Said Katie, it was very clear by the way she spoke about Jezebel that she wasn't her favorite person.
"Don't worry, James is too smart to fall for a girl like that, you have to have a little faith in him Katie." Said Emma, even though she knew that with the right pressure and guiles James might not prove to be very wise.
"I'm sure everything will work out fine. Well now, I have to get ready if I'm going to participate in this." Said Savialia as she got ready to leave her seat.
"You are going to participate on this? Which one are you doing?" The group asked, Remus and Peter had finally decided to give some attention back to the girls.
"Oh, I'm trying for the seeker competition, I always wanted to see if I can catch it. Bye now, I'll see you later." Savialia made her way down to the field while the group on the bleachers cheered her on.
"Fascinating girl you got there Peter." Said Remus as he watched the slim girl reach the side of the field where the competition would take place.
"I think so." Replied Peter with a smile gracing his lips.
The competition was fierce as all the best fliers, as well as some that were not, tried their hardest to outdo each other, but the one everyone tried to do better than was Sirius, they knew that if they got any chance of winning the competition then they would have to beat Sirius. But he didn't make it easy for them. It wasn't a coincidence that Gryffindor was undefeated for the last 5 years. It was five years ago that Gryffindor acquired the best team Hogwarts had ever seen, and it was with great sadness in part of the students left behind as well as Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House, that four members of the unbeatable team would graduate at the end of the year. The seeker, Ignacious Bell, the keeper, Tobias Wood, the three chasers, James, Lauren McInzie, and Sirius, along with the young beaters, Joshua McLaren and David Finnigan, together they formed a regular team and made it into one of the best.
"Just look at him! How can anyone think that they will be able to beat him?" Said a girl to her friends as they sat on the bleachers looking at the competition.
"He's lucky James couldn't join or he would've given him a run for his money." Commented another girl in the group.
"Do you think there is a chance for another to win any of the prizes?" Asked another girl in the group.
"I doubt it. It seems more likely for Sirius to be the big winner."
"We'll have a lot of disappointed guys in our hands."
"What else did they expect, they knew that Sirius was signing up for this, they were just lucky that none of the other Marauders decided to participate as well."
"You're right, it would've been a waste of time participating against them."
"Shhhh! Sirius is next, I want to see this."
Sirius calmly walked into the area where the chaser competition would take place, he smiled when he saw that the keeper on duty was none other than Gryffindor's own Tobias Wood, Sirius always wanted to see if he could goal against him, he had played against all the other keepers except Wood.
"I'm not going to make it easy for you Sirius, I've been looking forward to this." Taunted Wood as he circled the rings, until now competitors had some trouble getting the quaffle past Wood.
"As have I, but you know I like a challenge, let's see how good you really are." Yelled Sirius as his eyes sparkled with the thought of a challenging play.
"Are you two ready?" Asked Madam Hooch who was judging this particular event.
"Yes." Both answered.
A whistle was heard and the quaffle released. Sirius easily caught it and started flying up and down, side to side, trying to determine where Wood's weak area was. He quickly saw that Wood was having trouble keeping the far left ring covered and seemed to favor the right and center ring, this was what Sirius was looking for. He flew straight to the right ring but changed direction so fast that Woods didn't even perceive it until the quaffle made it into the left ring. Sirius flew around the rings with a smug smile in his face. People cheered and clapped, Sirius was the only one that had gotten one goal past Wood.
By the time the five minutes were over, Sirius had gotten three goals past Wood, the crowd was impressed, Sirius was happy and Wood was resigned.
"I'm happy we're on the same team and don't play against each other. You don't throw that way during practice, you've been holding out on me." Said Wood as together they slowly flew down to the field.
"No I haven't I just haven't been competing against you and just throw as the chasers of the other teams do, sometimes I think they throw like wimps." Smiled Sirius.
"Hahaha. That's true it isn't very hard to keep them from scoring." They had finally made it to the ground, and Sirius was instantly surrounded by well wishers.
"That was smashing."
"How did you do that? It was brilliant!"
"Can you give me some pointers?"
"Will the next competitor get ready please?" Said James, at these words the crow dispersed and the competition got ready to continue.
"Well done Sirius, you might just win this thing." Congratulated James, as he slapped Sirius back.
"Oh, it was nothing, I would've done much better if I had gone against any of the others but Wood is the best so it wasn't too easy."
"You have some time until you get to the next one, here have a drink you must be thirsty, the elves brought them over, Lily asked them to do so, she thought it would be nice to have something cold to drink after getting up there and compete."
"Smart that girl, are you going to have time to enjoy yourself at all?"
"I will take half an hour break in an hour and then another just before the dancing competition, then I have to get back here to gather all the results and get them sorted."
"Hmm.what about Lily, when does she have a free time?"
"Not sure, you'll have to ask her."
"Ok, I'll get ready for the next competition then."
"Of course, good luck."
"Thanks."
It was the some on the other two Quidditch competitions, people tried to undo Sirius at every one, they had better luck. Sirius was a trained Chaser, even though he hit the bludger fairly good, he wasn't used to it, and his weight didn't make him a good seeker, he was too heavy for that. Others did better than him, he was not too happy of that, he was very disappointed, but he was also impressed by some especially by Savialia, who so far had gotten the snitch faster than anybody.
The spectators on the bleachers cheered and yelled, and for a few moments a fight had been started, it was swiftly taken care of by James and the judges. A group of four was attentively looking at the competition and making plans for the rest of the day.
"Where do you reckon we should go next?" Peter asked as he ate some of the candy found in his giveaway bag.
"I think maybe to the fishing stand or to the ring toss, I want a prize and I'm going to make Sirius get it for me." Replied Katie as she stole one of Peter's candies.
"Hey!" Katie smiled sweetly at him.
"I think that would be a good idea there is still time for the pie eating contest." Said Emma as she grabbed some of Katie's candy and passed it to Peter.
"Yeah, I don't think Sirius would eat much after all this exercise." Responded Remus; trying to keep Katie from taking her candy back from Peter.
"Speaking of the devil." Exclaimed Emma as Sirius made his way up to him.
"Did I just hear my name?"
"If your name is Devil, then yes you did." Smiled Katie.
"Well I can be devilish, does that count?"
"Not really, the same could be said of your friends here."
"Hey! We're not as bad as Sirius and James." Protested Peter as he moved to make room for Sirius.
"Too true, we're quite sane compared to them." Smiled Remus.
"Hmph! James will have something to say about that." Said Sirius.
"Speaking of him, when is he going to have any free time?" Asked Emma.
"He said he would be free for half an hour in about...hmm...twenty minutes, and then another before the dancing competition."
"Well, we know Lily will take her first brake in an hour and the other just before the competition as well. We might just get a chance to have the whole group together then." Said an excited Katie, she had forgotten all about the candy now.
"We must get them together somehow, that Slytherin hussy has been importuning James." Said Emma.
"Slytherin hussy?" Asked Sirius in a whisper to Remus sitting beside him.
"Jezebel Robinson."
"Ahhh!"
"What are you two whispering about?" Katie asked with a warily glancing in their direction.
"Nothing, just asking a question." Quickly said Sirius he didn't want to deal with an angry female at all today.
"What question?"
"Hmmm...how long do we have to stay here?"
"Oh that, we could've told you that, there was no need for whispers. We'll stay until Savialia returns from the lockers."
"Why has she gone to the lockers?"
"Because she has to change, silly. You didn't expect her to go around in sweaty clothes did you?"
"Why not, I haven't changed."
"But you will, especially before the dancing competition." Katie said with a penetrating look.
"I am?"
"Yes, you are."
"Ok, I am."
"Good."
A/N: There you are the first part of Chapter 8, hope you enjoy it! : )
We finally come to the Festival Chapter. Now this one is really long (as those of you who have read it in the HP site know), so I'm going to have to divided it into three parts. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: I only own those characters that you do not recognize. ; )
Chapter 8 ~ The Halloween Festival
First part - Last Minute Preparations, Candy and Quidditch
Halloween morning was greeted with a lot of expectations and high spirits by all the students at Hogwarts. Lily and James were seen going from one place to another along with a prefect or two in tow.
"Make sure the boards on the stage are checked, we don't want an accident to happen during the middle of the afternoon and the band getting hurt." James was heard to say to a Hufflepuf prefect as they quickly went down a corridor.
"Taken care of, Ogg had the same concern and asked Hagrid to check them this morning." The prefect replied.
"Good."
In another part of the castle Lily was heard saying to the Ravenclaw and Slytherin prefects.
"I need you to go to Madam Hooch's office and gather the equipment we need for the Quidditch contests, she said that they would be ready in her office."
"Very well, we'll do that, we have to go that way to give her a copy of the keepers schedules." Replied one of the Ravenclaw prefects.
"Good make sure that the keepers, are only scheduled to guard the posts for an hour and 15 minutes at a time, they need to have the opportunity to enjoy themselves. I know the Gryffindor keeper wants to spend time with his fiancé." Said Lily.
"Does Dara know what she's getting herself into? Tobias Wood is totally Quidditch crazy."
"He is no different than James. But let's continue. You two go to Madam Hooch, while you two go to the kitchen and make that all the food is ready, you don't have to do anything more the elves have volunteered to carry the food out, just see if everything is prepared. After that go to the grounds and see if the tents have been erected and the tables and chairs have been put out for the luncheon."
"All right, the tables with the umbrellas, do we need to check on those as well?" Asked one of the Slytherin prefects.
"No I did that earlier, they're all set. That's all for now, I have to go and find James, there is something else that we need to do. Have you eaten, I don't want you to get sick."
"We're full." Responded the prefects.
"Oh good, once all this is done make sure you rest before the luncheon starts, there won't be time once the Festival begins. Well go on." Lily shooed them away, and then she turned in direction to the Great Hall, unlike the prefects she had not eaten yet.
The Great Hall was full and excited chatter permeated the air.
"I'm going into Hogsmead for just a little while, I want to return early so I can be on time to see the beginning of all the events." Said a student in the Ravenclaw table.
"Didn't you sign up for anything? I signed up for all the Quidditch competitions." Responded his friend.
"No, I didn't want to compete against any of the Marauders, knowing them, they probably signed up for everything, we won't have much chance of winning if that is the case."
" I don't care if I don't win, it will still be fun, and I want to try getting the Quaffle past Wood. If you're not competing what are you going to do?"
"Promised Lizzie I was going to with her."
"Good luck!"
" I'm not going into Hogsmead. I volunteered to help the band to set up." Said a girl in the Hufflepuf table with a smug expression to her friend.
"Oh, you are so lucky, can I come? Please!"
"Hmmm...I suppose it would be all right. They promised to let me stay while they are checking the sound."
"Oh, how exciting."
Similar conversations were heard through out the tables. Some older students decided to stay behind and volunteer to help settle the tents, they didn't want to miss any of the excitement. It was for this reason that only a handful of carriages arrived to Hogsmead. The small town was also buzzing in excitement. The residents were also invited to attend and everybody planned to attend, after all it wasn't every day that Hogwarts hosted an event of this caliber. Businesses decided to close early and join the students on their way back to Hogwarts and take part in the luncheon that would open the celebration.
Some stores donated products to give away. Zonco's sent 25 boxes full of every single item they sold. The Three Broomsticks sent 20 barrels of butterbeer along with snacks. Honeydukes sent 50 boxes of their best selling candy. And Gladrags Wizardwear sent various boxes of everyday accessories as well as dress robes accessories.
Everybody wanted to participate in one way or another, the Festival had become newsworthy and as a result the Daily Prophet was sending a reporter to cover the event and everybody in Diagon Alley had heard of it that all major businesses sent their contribution. Boxes from Quality Quidditch Supplies, Eeylops Owl Emporium, Flourish and Blotts, the Magical Menagerie, and others, were received at Hogwarts.
As carriages left toward Hogsmead, Lily found herself entering the Great Hall. The Marauders, Katie and Emma were sitting at the Gryffindor table making plans for the morning.
"Hello Lily! Ready to eat something? James just came in too." Said Emma as she motioned toward James who had piled a large amount of food on his plate and he seemed to think it was not enough.
"Yes, I'm famished and there's still some things left to do."
"There are? I thought everything was taken care of! What is it now?" Quickly said James, he was looking forward to rest for a while.
"We have to open all the boxes we were sent and chose what we're going to do with them. I thought that we can use the best things for prizes for the minor games, and the rest put them in bags and we can give them to people as they start arriving." Said Lily as she grabbed two pieces of toast and butter, then she chose some fruit and cereal.
"That's all we're doing? Opening boxes and filling bags?" When Lily nodded, James continued. "Good, I can do that sitting down, my feet are killing me."
"Yes, it would be nice to just sit for a while, I told the prefects to rest for the morning, otherwise they are going to be too tired for the Festival."
"Why didn't we get volunteers for this then, we could do with a little rest also."
"James, do you remember what is in those boxes? We cannot let anyone near them without supervision."
"Oh you're right, they could be stolen." Moaned James, he really wanted to go to the common room and sleep in the couch.
"What could be stolen?" Butt in Sirius who had been listening attentively to Lily and James and just wanted to satisfy his curiosity.
"None of your business!" Snapped James.
"Fine, I could've help!"
"I'm not sure that would've been a good idea."
"Why not? I don't have anything else to do."
"Why didn't you go to Hogsmeade?"
"Because I wanted to stay here and not miss anything."
"James, we could use some help, and if we are done quickly we might even get some time to sleep for a couple of hours before we have to be out there." Said Lily.
"See, she says I can help." Said a smug Sirius.
"Fine he can help, I guess with us there to supervise it will be ok." Grudgingly responded James.
"I'm not a thief, I won't take anything." Exclaimed an outraged Sirius.
"Wait until you see what we're talking about." Replied James.
"Can we help too? We can keep an eye on Sirius for you." Cajoled Katie.
"I wouldn't mind helping, lack of sleep is making James grouchy, he needs to rest." Said Remus as he finished his breakfast.
"I'll help too, the more help you have the faster you will be done and the more time we'll have to get ready." Said Emma.
"I'll help, I don't have to meet Savalia until luncheon time, she's in Hogsmeade now." Commented Peter.
"You have a date?" Asked Sirius with a mischievous smile.
"Yes." Said Peter, warily taking note of that smile.
"And I'm sure she's a nice girl. Well if you lot want to help out, you better hurry and finish, I want to able to sleep for at least one hour." Said James, trying to take Sirius's mind off from teasing Peter, in his opinion they didn't have enough time.
"Oh that would be lovely, one whole hour of sleep." Sighed Lily.
"Well we're done." Said Sirius as he noticed that the rest of the group was not eating any longer.
"We might as well go then." James gathered his things and got ready to leave the table. "We need to go to the dungeons, that's where we stored the boxes."
"Didn't want anybody to find them did you?" Snorted Sirius.
The group slowly made it's way to the dungeons, James and Lily were constantly stopped by people who wanted to get last minute details and Sirius kept insisting on stopping at every window to see how the tents were coming along.
Finally they reached the dungeons. Lily opened the door at the end of a long corridor and the group saw the room full of boxes of different sizes. On the side of each box they could decipher the words: Flourish and Blotts, Zonco's, Honeydukes, and many others.
"What's all this?" Asked Sirius as the group slowly entered the room. James quickly brought in some torches and Lily gathered chairs.
"Giveaways, all these businesses sent products for as to give away during the Festival." Said Lily as she gathered the materials that they would need.
"You are joking!" Exclaimed Sirius, as he reverently opened a box from his favorite store in Hogsmeade, Zonco's, and found a large quantity of his favorite products. "oooohhhh!"
"I see why you didn't want anybody in here, this is a veritable treasure." Said Remus as he opened a box from Quality Quidditch Supplies and took out a pack of cards with the pictures of the English National Team.
"Oh Emma look at this, isn't it lovely this would go nicely with your set of silver robes." Sighed Katie as she took out a silver pin from the box sent by Gladrags Wizardwear.
"Could we please contain ourselves?" Complained James, who for the first time didn't care to find out what kind of Quidditch supplies had be sent, all he wanted was some time to rest.
"I tell you what, if we finish this in record time, I will allow you to chose one item of each box for you to keep, deal?" Asked Lily, she didn't think James could handle more than a couple of hours, and she didn't blame him. She was just as tired.
"Deal!" Said the others.
"Good what we need to do is chose the best products, those will be for the prizes in the minor events, the rest will be put in these bags, put some candy in and an item from each box." Lily demonstrated how she wanted them to do, she took a handful of candy from the Honeyduke's box then went around the other boxes picking one item and putting them into the bag.
They divided the boxes among each other and as if they were factory workers, they passed the bag from one to the other each putting in an item form a different box. For an hour they worked in this manner at the end of which they had a large number of bags filled and an equal number of empty boxes.
"Very well, I think that's that. Let's put all of these bags in the empty boxes, I'll ask the prefects to help us take them out when it's time for luncheon." Said James very happy that it didn't take long to be done.
"We have two hours until luncheon, I am going to sleep for an hour at least, can you wake me at 10 so that I can get ready?" Said Lily to Katie and Emma as they started to leave the room. Everybody was carrying some bags in their arms with the items they had chosen for themselves.
"Don't worry, we will." Said Emma as the group made it's way to the common room.
At 11 a.m. students and residents of Hogsmeade made their way to the grounds near the lake a large tent had been erected and a buffet table was placed at one side loaded with all kind of food. As soon as everybody was sitting, Dumbledore stood from his place at the table of honor and addressed his audience.
"Welcome everyone to our Halloween Festival, I hope you all have lots of fun, but first I would like to ask you to please give a round of applause to our Head Boy and Girl, Lily and James, who with the help of all the house prefects, have organized to bring us this treat."
Applause filled the air as James, Lily and the prefects made their bows, when the applause ended, Dumbledore spoke once more.
"Now I would like to remind you that we are still in Hogwarts and the rules are not to be forgotten. I want you all to remember that even if you don't win, you had fun. Now let the games begin!"
Applause filled the air once more. All of those present made their way to the buffet table and started to pile food on their plates, the line slowly moved as people chatted and laughed with their friends.
In a table in the middle, a blond 7th year slytherin was talking to her friends, her name was Jezebel and at the moment was making plans to attract the attention of a certain Gryffindor.
"Which game do you think he will supervise Jezy?" A girl in the group asked.
"I'm sure he will be in the Quidditch pitch the whole day, Evans would want to keep him entertained and the only thing that will do so is Quidditch." Jezebel replied. Jezebel Robinson was, part of the elite group called the Vixens, which was mainly comprised of 7th year Slytherin students. Jezebel was the leader of the group and their goal in life was to get what they wanted no matter what they had to do to get it.
"I'm not sure if we should go there, he might be too busy flying around. Honestly I don't understand what they see in that game, it makes no sense to me." Replied Jezebel's best friend, Narcissa Mulliens.
"You'll be with my cousin Narcy, I'm sure Lucius will want to go to the Quidditch pitch as well, you must get used to it." Smiled Jezebel, she didn't look at Narcissa as she spoke she was too busy keeping her eyes on James, who was sitting at the table of honor next to Lily.
"We need a good excuse to get in there without calling much attention. Three girls alone in the Quidditch pitch might not call that much attention if it was just anybody, but everybody knows we don't enjoy Quidditch as much as they do we will turn heads but not in the way we would like to do. If we go with you and Lucius nobody will think twice about it." Said Maureen Avery the last member of the group.
"Yeah that would work, we just need to get in there without calling undue attention, I will take care of things from then on. Who is going with you Maureen?" Jezebel finally looked away from James and turned to look at her friends.
"Severus."
"Good choice, he's pure blood and in our house."
"If you're so concerned with that, how can you even think of James Potter as a prospective mate?"
"He is pure blood, it is a shame that he belongs to Gryffindor, but it's not his fault, after all his family is descended from Gryffindor himself. But his family is rich and one of the most influential in our world, how could I not think of him as a prospective spouse."
"Well I wish you luck, you're going to need it with him." Replied Narcissa.
"Don't worry, I don't need luck."
The luncheon went on according to plan, James and Lily couldn't be any happier. The band started to play and people made their way to the dance floor as they finished eating and waited for the competitions to begin.
"I will go to the prefects and tell them to take their place is time for the competitions to start." Whispered James to Lily as he prepared to leave the table.
"All right, I guess we should begin now, then." Lily responded. The Head Students left the table, soon the prefects followed. Minutes later groups of students were seen leaving the dance floor and the luncheon site to start competing and have fun.
"Sirius, where are you taking me?" Asked Katie as Sirius pulled her by the arm.
"To the Quidditch pitch of course. I want to go first before it gets too full of people."
"Why do you worry so much, you know you're a great player, one of the best in fact."
"If I didn't know you I would've thought that was a compliment." Said Sirius stopping and looking back at her.
"You are right, I just wanted you to slow down." She said and with a smile continued on her way.
"Will you be in the Quidditch competition as well?" Asked Emma as she and Remus walked behind Sirius and Katie.
"No I'm not as good as James or Sirius, and I don't want to make a fool of myself out there." Said Remus.
"I'm sure you could never make a fool of yourself, you're a good flier you practice with them all the time, you could've done good." Emma said as she looked at him behind her lashes, Remus grinned.
"You think so?"
"I know so."
The foursome arrived at the Quidditch pitch. The stands were rapidly filling up with spectators as well as competitors. The pitch had been divided into sections, two areas had been charmed to be encircled by a kind of invisible barrier, one was around the goal rings at one end of the pitch, and the other was at the other end of the pitch, where the snitch was released. The rest of the space had been left for the bludger competition. People filled the bleachers and competitors started to move toward the field.
"Peter, aren't you joining?" Asked Sirius, as he got ready to move toward the pitch.
"Nope, decided to just stay here at the bleachers and cheer for you instead." Peter had come in with his date, Savialia Chang a 7th year Ravenclaw, she was petite, brunette and with deep light brown eyes, they were both eating cotton candy which quickly caught Sirius' attention.
"Where did you get those?"
"At the snack stand just outside the pitch."
"I'll be right back, I got to get me one of those." Sirius turned to the exit of the pitch but felt somebody pulling at his sleeve.
"Oh no you're not. You dragged me in here Sirius Black to be among the first and I'm not going to wait more than necessary just because you have a craving for cotton candy, you better take yourself down there and win this competition before we go out there, then you can eat as much as you want. Now go!" Sirius was very surprised by the forcefulness in Katie's voice that he didn't even think of arguing with her, he just turned back to his previous direction and joined the rest of the competitors as they made their way to the pitch.
"Poor Sirius, you didn't have to mean to him." Said a kindhearted Savialia as she saw Sirius walk away with slumped shoulders.
"Oh don't worry about him, he will forget all about it when he gets up on his broom and is totally engrossed in the competition." Replied Remus, as he made room on the bleachers for Peter and Savialia.
"If you say so." Said Savialia, but by the skeptic glance she threw at him it was clear that she didn't believe it.
"How did you two meet?" Asked Emma, who was very curious to know how Peter came to have a date. She had never thought of Peter as someone who girls might want to date.
"We met last summer, at the beach where my family went for vacation. We bumped into each other, literally, and started to talk and we found out that we both came to Hogwarts so we agreed to meet once more once we got here." Related Peter, and Savialia just nodded her head as he told the story.
"That's nice, do you go to the beach every year Savialia?" Asked Katie.
"Yes, my family owns a beach house and we go there every summer." Said Savialia after she finished all the candy and got ready to look at the competition that had just started down at the pitch.
"Is Sirius going soon?" Asked Peter turning his attention to the pitch.
"No, not yet, he's waiting there, see him? There are two more people in front of him." Said Remus as he caught sight of Sirius.
"What are they doing here?" Said Katie with disgust in her tone.
"Who?" Asked Emma and Savialia. Peter and Remus were too engrossed in looking at the competition that they had left the girls to amuse themselves.
"There near the pitch just were the judges are, see them?" Said Katie motioning where she wanted the others to see. She had been told by her parents many times that pointing was not done by a lady.
"Ugh! Probably flirting with the judges to gain points for Malfoy and Snape." Said Emma as she spotted the group that had attracted Katie's attention.
"I think she's flirting with James." Said Savialia.
"She isn't!" Gasped Katie.
"She is!" Replied Emma.
Down in the Quidditch pitch, James had been running from one place to the other making sure that all was in place for the competition to begin. He was quite thrilled at the sight of so many people that had arrived to see and join in the competition.
"It seems to be going good, James, I congratulate you." Said Madam Hooch as she scanned the bleachers, which were rapidly filling.
"Yes James, yeh must be 'appy." Smiled Hagrid; the kindhearted assistant to the old gamekeeper.
"I'm glad that everything has gone on with out a hitch, and I'm sure that Lily will feel so as well." Said James smiling, he was really happy that so far the day had been a success. His friends would've said that he was ecstatic.
"Will your friends be joining Mr. Potter?" Madam Hooch asked.
"Sirius will be competing, the others I'm not so sure." Replied James as he looked toward the field and saw the competitors getting ready to begin.
"He is goin' to make it hard for others to win." Chuckled Hagrid.
"He will certainly try, he wants the autographed quaffle and robes, as well as the broom." Laughed James.
"Mr. Potter, it seems that you have visitors, they have been trying to attract your attention for quite a while." Said Madam Hooch as she looked toward the stands. James turned thinking that she was talking about Peter and Remus with the girls. He was wrong. He was very well acquainted with the group that was waving in his direction, The Vixens they were called, he didn't remember how they had gotten their name but they certainly lived up to it. Jezebel Robinson was the leader of the group, blond hair, slender body and height above average, she was certainly considered to be among the prime catches among the male population, she was also egotistical, a snob, and too spoiled by her rich parents; she also liked to have around her people who were just like her. The other two members of the group certainly fit that description, Narcissa Mulliens and Maureen Avery, were just as full of themselves as Jezebel was, only interested in the bloodlines and social standing of their acquaintances. James was not very happy to be thought part of that elite social group to which all of them belonged to. But he had no choice, his family was acquainted to all the major families of the magical world and to snub the members of three of some of these families would put him in his mother's black book, not to mention his father, who considered appearances to be of the outmost importance. He made sure the judges had everything they would need and walked toward the group standing on the lower steps of the bleachers.
"Well, hello there James, we don't have much opportunity to see each other during the pasts months. I must congratulate you, you seem to have done a great job." Said Jezebel in a husky voice fluttering her eyes.
"Thank you Jezebel but I didn't do this alone you know." Replied James as he nodded toward the other two girls.
"Oh but you must have been the mastermind behind this event, after all only a fun loving personality would've come with this idea, somehow I don't see Evans thinking of something like this." Continued Jezebel, her limpid blue eyes widening as she said this.
"Oh you could never know what Lily is capable of." James didn't understand why he was defending Lily, she wouldn't be pleased about it she would say that she could defend herself very well, and it was not like Jezebel was insulting her.
"Oh I'm sure that she made her contribution, after all, I've been told she is a clever girl, she would not be Head Girl if she wasn't." Soothed Jezebel, she knew that James didn't like to hear others being belittled, it would have to be something she would have to work on once she had him in her grasp.
"Are you girls joining in some of the competitions?" Asked James, he was trying to think of something that would make them leave and he knew that they didn't find Quidditch very enjoyable.
"Oh no, you know we don't like this much, we were just keeping company while we wait for Severus and Lucius."
"Hmmm.well, I hope you still have fun even if you don't compete."
"What about you James? Don't tell me you have to stay here the whole day." Said Jezebel in a feign note of concern.
"Pretty much, don't have much free time except maybe to stretch my legs once in a while for a couple of minutes."
"Oh, how horrid for you! I was hoping you might like to join me at the dance floor for a little while." Moaned Jezebel, who did had plans to spend time with James, it seemed that her plans would have to wait. That Evans certainly knew how to keep a guy from having fun.
"Well, sorry, don't think I will have any free time to do so. I have to go now, lots to do this afternoon." James said his goodbyes and turned back to the field.
"I'm sorry Jezy, I know you had plans for James today." Said Narcissa as they saw James walking away. She wasn't really sorry, she didn't like that Jezebel sometimes grabbed more attention from the boys than she did, and the thought of Jezebel with out a date for one of the most important events of the year was very satisfying.
"Oh I'm sure you are, but don't worry I will get what I want, I just hadn't counted on Evans being clever enough to assign him something that would certainly make him fulfill his duty."
"I'm sure you will think of a way Jezy, but let's sit, there is no reason for us to stay here any longer." Said Maureen. The others agreed and joined the crowd of spectators who were ready to cheer their favorite.
On the bleachers, Emma, Katie and Savialia, watched as the Slytherin group talked to James, they were too far to see the expression on their faces or to hear anything, but they had a good idea of what it could be. The whole school knew of Jezebel's Robinson plans about James, she was too full of herself to keep it quiet. But the girls had other plans for James, and they would not allow Jezebel to ruin it for them. They breathed a sigh of relief when they saw James walk back to the field.
"That was nerve-racking, we have to do something to get Lily and James together soon otherwise that hussy will eventually get to James." Said Katie, it was very clear by the way she spoke about Jezebel that she wasn't her favorite person.
"Don't worry, James is too smart to fall for a girl like that, you have to have a little faith in him Katie." Said Emma, even though she knew that with the right pressure and guiles James might not prove to be very wise.
"I'm sure everything will work out fine. Well now, I have to get ready if I'm going to participate in this." Said Savialia as she got ready to leave her seat.
"You are going to participate on this? Which one are you doing?" The group asked, Remus and Peter had finally decided to give some attention back to the girls.
"Oh, I'm trying for the seeker competition, I always wanted to see if I can catch it. Bye now, I'll see you later." Savialia made her way down to the field while the group on the bleachers cheered her on.
"Fascinating girl you got there Peter." Said Remus as he watched the slim girl reach the side of the field where the competition would take place.
"I think so." Replied Peter with a smile gracing his lips.
The competition was fierce as all the best fliers, as well as some that were not, tried their hardest to outdo each other, but the one everyone tried to do better than was Sirius, they knew that if they got any chance of winning the competition then they would have to beat Sirius. But he didn't make it easy for them. It wasn't a coincidence that Gryffindor was undefeated for the last 5 years. It was five years ago that Gryffindor acquired the best team Hogwarts had ever seen, and it was with great sadness in part of the students left behind as well as Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House, that four members of the unbeatable team would graduate at the end of the year. The seeker, Ignacious Bell, the keeper, Tobias Wood, the three chasers, James, Lauren McInzie, and Sirius, along with the young beaters, Joshua McLaren and David Finnigan, together they formed a regular team and made it into one of the best.
"Just look at him! How can anyone think that they will be able to beat him?" Said a girl to her friends as they sat on the bleachers looking at the competition.
"He's lucky James couldn't join or he would've given him a run for his money." Commented another girl in the group.
"Do you think there is a chance for another to win any of the prizes?" Asked another girl in the group.
"I doubt it. It seems more likely for Sirius to be the big winner."
"We'll have a lot of disappointed guys in our hands."
"What else did they expect, they knew that Sirius was signing up for this, they were just lucky that none of the other Marauders decided to participate as well."
"You're right, it would've been a waste of time participating against them."
"Shhhh! Sirius is next, I want to see this."
Sirius calmly walked into the area where the chaser competition would take place, he smiled when he saw that the keeper on duty was none other than Gryffindor's own Tobias Wood, Sirius always wanted to see if he could goal against him, he had played against all the other keepers except Wood.
"I'm not going to make it easy for you Sirius, I've been looking forward to this." Taunted Wood as he circled the rings, until now competitors had some trouble getting the quaffle past Wood.
"As have I, but you know I like a challenge, let's see how good you really are." Yelled Sirius as his eyes sparkled with the thought of a challenging play.
"Are you two ready?" Asked Madam Hooch who was judging this particular event.
"Yes." Both answered.
A whistle was heard and the quaffle released. Sirius easily caught it and started flying up and down, side to side, trying to determine where Wood's weak area was. He quickly saw that Wood was having trouble keeping the far left ring covered and seemed to favor the right and center ring, this was what Sirius was looking for. He flew straight to the right ring but changed direction so fast that Woods didn't even perceive it until the quaffle made it into the left ring. Sirius flew around the rings with a smug smile in his face. People cheered and clapped, Sirius was the only one that had gotten one goal past Wood.
By the time the five minutes were over, Sirius had gotten three goals past Wood, the crowd was impressed, Sirius was happy and Wood was resigned.
"I'm happy we're on the same team and don't play against each other. You don't throw that way during practice, you've been holding out on me." Said Wood as together they slowly flew down to the field.
"No I haven't I just haven't been competing against you and just throw as the chasers of the other teams do, sometimes I think they throw like wimps." Smiled Sirius.
"Hahaha. That's true it isn't very hard to keep them from scoring." They had finally made it to the ground, and Sirius was instantly surrounded by well wishers.
"That was smashing."
"How did you do that? It was brilliant!"
"Can you give me some pointers?"
"Will the next competitor get ready please?" Said James, at these words the crow dispersed and the competition got ready to continue.
"Well done Sirius, you might just win this thing." Congratulated James, as he slapped Sirius back.
"Oh, it was nothing, I would've done much better if I had gone against any of the others but Wood is the best so it wasn't too easy."
"You have some time until you get to the next one, here have a drink you must be thirsty, the elves brought them over, Lily asked them to do so, she thought it would be nice to have something cold to drink after getting up there and compete."
"Smart that girl, are you going to have time to enjoy yourself at all?"
"I will take half an hour break in an hour and then another just before the dancing competition, then I have to get back here to gather all the results and get them sorted."
"Hmm.what about Lily, when does she have a free time?"
"Not sure, you'll have to ask her."
"Ok, I'll get ready for the next competition then."
"Of course, good luck."
"Thanks."
It was the some on the other two Quidditch competitions, people tried to undo Sirius at every one, they had better luck. Sirius was a trained Chaser, even though he hit the bludger fairly good, he wasn't used to it, and his weight didn't make him a good seeker, he was too heavy for that. Others did better than him, he was not too happy of that, he was very disappointed, but he was also impressed by some especially by Savialia, who so far had gotten the snitch faster than anybody.
The spectators on the bleachers cheered and yelled, and for a few moments a fight had been started, it was swiftly taken care of by James and the judges. A group of four was attentively looking at the competition and making plans for the rest of the day.
"Where do you reckon we should go next?" Peter asked as he ate some of the candy found in his giveaway bag.
"I think maybe to the fishing stand or to the ring toss, I want a prize and I'm going to make Sirius get it for me." Replied Katie as she stole one of Peter's candies.
"Hey!" Katie smiled sweetly at him.
"I think that would be a good idea there is still time for the pie eating contest." Said Emma as she grabbed some of Katie's candy and passed it to Peter.
"Yeah, I don't think Sirius would eat much after all this exercise." Responded Remus; trying to keep Katie from taking her candy back from Peter.
"Speaking of the devil." Exclaimed Emma as Sirius made his way up to him.
"Did I just hear my name?"
"If your name is Devil, then yes you did." Smiled Katie.
"Well I can be devilish, does that count?"
"Not really, the same could be said of your friends here."
"Hey! We're not as bad as Sirius and James." Protested Peter as he moved to make room for Sirius.
"Too true, we're quite sane compared to them." Smiled Remus.
"Hmph! James will have something to say about that." Said Sirius.
"Speaking of him, when is he going to have any free time?" Asked Emma.
"He said he would be free for half an hour in about...hmm...twenty minutes, and then another before the dancing competition."
"Well, we know Lily will take her first brake in an hour and the other just before the competition as well. We might just get a chance to have the whole group together then." Said an excited Katie, she had forgotten all about the candy now.
"We must get them together somehow, that Slytherin hussy has been importuning James." Said Emma.
"Slytherin hussy?" Asked Sirius in a whisper to Remus sitting beside him.
"Jezebel Robinson."
"Ahhh!"
"What are you two whispering about?" Katie asked with a warily glancing in their direction.
"Nothing, just asking a question." Quickly said Sirius he didn't want to deal with an angry female at all today.
"What question?"
"Hmmm...how long do we have to stay here?"
"Oh that, we could've told you that, there was no need for whispers. We'll stay until Savialia returns from the lockers."
"Why has she gone to the lockers?"
"Because she has to change, silly. You didn't expect her to go around in sweaty clothes did you?"
"Why not, I haven't changed."
"But you will, especially before the dancing competition." Katie said with a penetrating look.
"I am?"
"Yes, you are."
"Ok, I am."
"Good."
A/N: There you are the first part of Chapter 8, hope you enjoy it! : )