Chapter 2: Stuck With Me.
Two weeks had passed since the beginning of school. Classes were fairly easy at the moment, just reviewing over the previous years. Everyone knew that wouldn't last though, especially the fifth and seventh years with end of the year exams coming up. Hogwarts was, well, boring right now. But it was only the second week in September, and they had a whole nine months to go.
Lily enjoyed being Head Girl. She and James had taken the Head dormitories, and she tried to avoid him as much as possible. She was actually very surprised to see that he had left her alone, usually. Was James Potter finally growing up, or moving on?
It was a fine Saturday afternoon, the weather humid and cloudy. That didn't stop people from being outside. The clouds threatened a late summer storm coming. Autumn would be starting in just a week, and it certainly didn't feel like it. The grounds of Hogwarts were covered in little colored dots, being people. Lily sat out under an oak tree with Carmella, reading and chit chattering about things. Peyton was with the Quidditch team, holding tryouts. She told the girls to come and watch, and they were seriously debating it.
"I think we should go watch the team.. make sure James picks the right people." Carmella said, the last part jokingly.
"Fine." Lily finally said with a massive sigh, shutting her book and magically sending it to the common room. Oh, she took the magic for advantage. Everyone did. Carmella followed suit, and the girls headed for the Quidditch pitch.
Huddled on one side of the field was the four remaining members of the team, James, Sirius, Peyton and a fifth year Chaser, Marcus Flynn. They were discussing something, but bunched together, they looked like a big scarlet and gold blob wearing their Quidditch uniforms. James finally emerged from the bunch, the other three going to his side. He looked at the line of people wanting to try out and groaned. It was going to be a long day. Lily and Carmella took their seats in the empty stands, seeing Remus and Peter near them. Lily noticed the pink forming on Carmella's cheeks and chuckled, watching as Remus and Peter sat down silently. Deciding not to strike up conversation, she just watched on.
"Okay. If you are trying out for Seeker, go there. If you are trying out for Keeper, go there. And if you are trying out for Chaser, go there," James yelled out, pointing to three seperate places on the field. He noticed majority of the people were girls, and most going towards the Chaser section. He narrowed his eyes at this, but kept on going. "I'll help the Chaser group, - " and here large giggles from the girls trying out came, " - Sirius and Peyton will help with the Seeker, sending Bludgers at them, - " Peyton glared at Sirius, really wanting bad to send a Bludger after him instead of the Seeker, " - and Marcus will help the Keeper, trying to score the Quaffle." James finished, waving the three other members over and saying something. The three nodded, then went off to help their sections.
Hours upon hours dragged on, and in the stands, Lily had summoned over her book again, Carmella had fallen asleep on the bench, Remus was gazing across over the mountains, looking as if he weren't paying attention to anything in the world, and Peter had left the group. James was growing frustrated, watching as most of the girls that were trying out were either looking at him or Sirius, whom was whacking at the Bludgers with his bat, Peyton doing the same. Marcus looked rather tired from throwing the Quaffle so many times, and his arm was just about ready to fall off.
"You three, over here!" James yelled to his team, and they grew excited because this stupid tryout session was finally over. They huddled up again.
"I think the boy, Gene McQuinn was an excellent Keeper." Marcus stated, rubbing his throwing arm.
"Herman Pugsley was probably the best Seeker that we saw. He still needs a lot of work." Sirius said, emphasizing the word 'a lot'. Peyton simply nodded in agreement.
Adrian Bassanio was one of the good Chasers." James finally said after some heavy thinking and remembering. Peyton groaned.
"Just make me the only girl on the team, Potter." she said. James and Sirius both smirked at her, and Marcus chuckled. She punched James hard in the arm, and he winced a bit at how much power it had. So much strength inside a petite girl. And she didn't even look like she had any muscle, when she really did.
James went along over to the group of people. "I'm calling three names, and if you're called, congratulations. If not.. you sucked," he said truthfully, making Sirius snort softly. "McQuinn, Pugsley, Bassanio." he called, and the three boys joined along after whooping and punching the air. All had bright grins on their faces. James looked over each of them. Gene had the looks of a Keeper. He had mousy brown hair and simple brown eyes. He was a little on the tall side, about six foot and he was a seventh year. He wasn't too stocky, yet not too skinny either. James handed him a set of robes and some gear, and he took it eagerly. Herman was a little weird, a sixth year with glasses like James, and blonde, ruffled hair. He was shorter than the rest, and more skinnier. James shot a glare to Peyton, and she gave him a simple one back that clearly said 'he was better than the rest'. James handed him some robes as well and gear, and he took it. Adrian Bassanio was last. He was a sixth year as well, leaving Marcus as the youngest. He was Italian, and very good looking. He had short black hair with intriguing blue eyes. Peyton was staring at the boy as if she had seen nothing like him. James noticed a frown on Sirius's face, and he wasn't afraid to hide it. James chuckled, handing Adrian a set of robes and some gear, and he pulled Peyton in the middle of the group.
"What?" Peyton asked, snapping from her daze. She looked at the taller boys surrounding her and grinned. "Is it my birthday?" she teased, though she knew what the deal was. It was what they did for a cheer, and Peyton being the smallest and shortest at only five foot, six inches, she had to be in the middle. She knelt on the grass, all six of the boys putting a hand ontop of her head.
"G-r-y-f-f-i-n-d-o-r!" she started happily, the rest joining in.
"Go, go, Gryffindor, lions for the cup!" the seven said in unison, then started off the pitch. Peyton had to laugh.
"We have the stupidest cheer. What's the point of putting me in the middle?" she asked, walking besides James, Sirius on his other side, sending the equipment and stuff off to the locker room with his wand.
"Who knows, who cares, shut up." James told her with a smirk as they headed for the stands to retrieve Remus, Lily and Carmella. Peyton grinned at Carmella, prodding her with her wand.
"Wakey, wakey!" she cried, laughing as Carmella woke with a start. She rubbed her shoulder because she had been laying on the hard wood with it for the past five hours. Lily was nearing the end of her book, though shut it as she saw Peyton. She stood up, not bothering to look at James and started off on her own.
"What's her problem?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow. Carmella grinned as she tied up her curly brown locks.
"That time of the month." she said, her and Peyton laughing at their faces as they trailed after Lily back to the castle.
"Hey, Moony! Let's go, get out of Carmella-land, she's gone now." Sirius said loudly, nudging Remus. He jumped, and grew a faint pink as he realized what Sirius had said. Now it was James and Sirius's turn to laugh. The boys stood up and headed for the castle.
----
"NO!" a yell was heard in the common room. It was Lily, whom was examining the bulletin board in the common room. Lucky for her, it was empty, except for Peyton and Carmella. Peyton was sleeping on the couch bellydown, her blonde hair falling in front of her closed eyes. Carmella had been reading a book, and also doing weekend homework. She jumped when Lily had yelled, though Peyton remained sleeping.
"What?" Carmella asked, putting her quill down on her lap and looking at Lily. She looked disgusted and flustered.
"Dumbledore has gone fucking insane this year! I swear to God!" she cried.
"WHAT?" Carmella asked again, looking rather impatient. Lily looked to Peyton to see if she awoke, but that girl could sleep through a tornado hitting her house.
"There's going to be a Christmas Ball this year, and me and Potter have to plan it!" she said, throwing her arms up in the air, then stomped up to the Heads dormitory angrily. She really did not want to plan a ball with James, knowing that he'd ask her to it about a million times.
Carmella chuckled at Lily, then jumped once more as the portrait opened and the four Marauders stepped in. She simply turned to look at her book, though not concentrating on it anymore.
"Where's Evans?" James asked, not seeing her. All he was was Carmella, and didn't notice the sleeping Peyton underneath a blanket on the couch. Obviously, Sirius hadn't either because he hopped over the back of the couch and landed on Peyton. She awoke with a yell, turning to look over at Sirius, whom simply grinned innocently at her.
"Get your fucking fat ass off of me, Black!" Peyton yelled, not able to squirm her one hundred pound body underneath Sirius's one hundred and fourty. Sirius obeyed orders and pulled himself to his feet, sitting down on another armchair.
"Brooding." Carmella said simply, shutting her book now after marking it's place, watching as Peyton stood up and groaned, doing a back bend to crack her back. Peter had shuddered at watching her, Remus looking over at Carmella. He was trying not to stare. See, Remus had a thing for Carmella, and Carmella had a thing for him. So why didn't they go out? A number of reasons. Remus didn't know Carmella fancied him, and Remus was far too shy to ask her out. Poor souls.
"Ah, she found out about the Christmas Ball then, eh?" Sirius asked, looking to Peyton suggestively as she sat down on the couch normally again. Peyton pretended not to see it. James chuckled, shaking his head.
"She'll get over it." James said, heading upstairs to the Head's dormitories now as well to take a shower. The five down there watched him go off, and without another word, Peter disappeared again.
After a few minutes of silence, and Carmella and Remus stealing glances at each other, Peyton finally sighed exasperatedly.
"Alright. Remus, you like Carmella. Carmella, you like Remus," she started, looking over at Sirius whom was giving her a look that clearly said 'I love you for doing this'. She smirked at him, then turned back to her two friends. "Remus, just as the damn girl out already." she said. Both blushed furiously, and Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Carmella, do you want to go to the first Hogsmeade visit with me next weekend?" Remus asked her after a few moments of being quiet. He was going over the pros and cons of asking Carmella out. A pro was that he liked her, and if she said yes, they'd be together. A con was telling her that he was a werewolf. That ignited a thought in his head, the full moon was next weekend. Shit. Next Friday, it was, and Hogsmeade was Sunday. He cursed in his mind, but had to get over it because it was too late.
"Of course I will." Carmella replied, still blushing like mad. Peyton and Sirius exchanged a glance, and for the first time in her life, Peyton gave him a genuine grin.
Sirius smirked. One couple down, two couples to go. And by this, he meant Lily and James, and himself and Peyton.
