A/N: I don't own Harry Potter but I do own these words so please keep your grubby mitts off..
This chapter is dedicated to Sir Gwain of Camelot thank you for your nitpicking and constructive criticism. Almost all of your points are bang on and mistakes of mine. Ooops.
But the worms refrence from Remus was referring to the first chap when
he felt so nervous it was like wriggly worms in his stomach, hence
(love that word) 'worms again', well I got it... And yes wizzard, my
bad, obviously my pratchett love is coming out subconciously... And
finally, I don't think all Slytherin's are stupid. Just like not all
Griffindors are loyal (Peter) . Promise I'm not anti Slytherin.
And yes I am an amiga. x
Hope you all enjoy this and sorry its been a long time coming.
Chap 8- Quiditch
"What was that?" James sniggered.
Remus sighed as Sirius beamed. They were hidden in one of the secret stairways on the forth floor. They had discovered this particular passage in their first week, it seemed the Slytherin sixth years who had attempted to hex James didn't know it existed.
"Engorgement charm…" Sirius grinned. "Didn't mean to hit his head, but oh well…" Remus rolled his eyes. He could hear the Slytherins blundering around. No wonder when two had a bad case of jelly legs, another's head twice its normal size and the other a bad case of slug vomiting.
"Brilliant." James grinned.
"What is going on here?" Came a loud clipped voice from the corridor. "Who did this?"
"McGonagal." James breathed.
There was loud muttering of 'No one Professor', 'Did it to ourselves Professor'…
"Come with me." Was the snapped reply. They waited in silence until the sound of footsteps grew quieter after a minute Remus pulled the tapestry which covered the entrance aside an inch.
"Clear." He said stepping out into the corridor. James, Sirius and Peter followed. The latter looking a little squashed. Remus guessed that was the result of Sirius jumping in the stairway after Peter and not really looking where he was going. Remus had noticed Sirius tended to jump first and look second. He always assumed his path was clear and unfortunately Peter tended to get in the way.
"I wonder why they didn't turn us in?" Peter asked pulling his robe straight as they made their way back to the common room.
"They would have to explain why they were following us." Sirius laughed. "And explain how four first years out duelled them..."
Remus nodded in agreement. He hadn't been so convinced the Slytherins wouldn't drop them in it, but he had to admit it had all worked out fine.
They had been dodging attacks ever since James had started training with the Griffindor quiditch team the week before. Somehow the team captain Christopher Robinson had managed to convince McGonagal to let him off detention. Sirius had only seemed mildly annoyed by this but had done his remaining four detentions alone and good naturedly. However McGonagal had made it clear James would be making up for his as soon as the match was over.
So far they had dodged at least six ambushes and come off relatively unscathed, and Remus had only had to unhex Peter's jelly legs twice. Peter really wasn't any good at duelling. He tended to try and hide behind either Sirius or James, perhaps he would get better with time.
James hadn't been anywhere on his own for a week, and with three days left until the match Remus saw the signs of him going a little stir crazy. He was extra fidgety and Remus guessed he hadn't been sleeping.
Then there had been the shouting match he had had with Lily Evans three days ago. She had cornered him in the common room and promptly told exactly what she thought of him being put on the team.
James had listened with a strange smile on his face as she shouted words such as: 'disgrace', 'pathetic', malicious', 'conceited' in his face. Then when she had to pause for breath he had asked her out.
The whole incident had cheered Sirius up and he was still doing imitations of Lily staring at James like a gold fish. Remus still found himself smiling when he thought about it.
James had taken the slap round the face and cursing good naturedly and just shrugged. Remus wasn't sure exactly if James had been serious, but by the way he looked at the back of her head in class and the dumb smile he gave her everytime she glared at him; Remus thought his friend really liked her.
888
James climbed back through the portrait hole with his friends. As he looked back he saw two fifth year Slytherins slinking away looking disappointed.
He was the youngest member on the team and knew he was seen as the easiest target. But if the team lost a player this close to the match it would be disastrous. There would be no time to train a decent replacement.
He'd been told by Robinson he was a good player. He had known that already but to be told it made him feel particularly smug. But the closer they got to Saturday the more nervous he got. He was quickly loosing his appetite as he felt like big wriggly worms were in his stomach. Churning it up.
It didn't help that everyone was making such a big deal of it all. Everytime he walked in the common room he had his back slapped by at least three people and he was beginning to walk with a stoop. If he was completely honest with himself though, he loved all the attention he was getting from everyone. Even the Slytherin sneers and threats washed off his back. He was getting to play quiditch. His parents had already sent him his broomstick, a Nimbus 1000 and a big box of Bertie Botts Every Favour Beans, which he had already eaten with the help of Peter, Sirius and Remus.
The next two days passed excruciatingly slowly. But before he knew it, it was Saturday morning and he was wide awake. Staring at the ceiling, he tried to relax.
Realising it was no good he climbed out of bed and jumped on Sirius.
888
Sirius sat up and glared at James, rubbing his legs. But James just grinned and bounced around the room; leaping on Remus and Peter in turn.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Sirius asked, not even trying to keep the growl out of his voice.
"Yupe." James grinned. "Morning."
"Barely." Sirius muttered to himself. But he couldn't begrudge James his hyperactivity. If their situations were reversed he knew full well that James would try his best to be happy for him.
He was surprised that James could stand still long enough to get dressed, but he did. And they went down to the common room; which was filling up with Griffindor's dressed in gold and scarlet, with loud and colourful banners. Then, with a large escort, they made their way down to the great hall for breakfast.
When they got there however James turned an unattractive shade of puce and refused to eat anything. His bouncy beaming demeanour gone completely. He kept glancing over at the Slytherin table and muttering under his breath.
"You'll be fine." Remus murmured across the table and Peter nodded eagerly.
"You're the best flier out there."
"No he's not." Sirius snapped. "Stop being such a prat Peter." Turning to James he shrugged under James glare. "James you're a good flier and all and I'm sure you'll do great. But it doesn't do you any good being told you're the best flier out there. You're a first year, you're eleven. And you've never played in a proper Quiditch match." He watched James face, trying to gauge the reaction. Was he going to lean across the table and smack him? Oh Merlin, he hoped he wasn't going to cry…
But just then Robinson stood up and called for the Griffindor team. James got up still looking like he was torn between hitting Sirius and hugging him. Sirius knew he would prefer the former.
But before James could say anything, Robinson had grabbed his arm and he was being marched off.
"You shouldn't have said that." Remus said quietly. "He didn't need to hear that."
"Yes he did." Sirius replied stubbornly. Then again, a little voice in the back of his head sniggered; maybe you don't have his best interests at heart. Ignoring this he shrugged under Remus' gaze. "Done is done."
Slowly they made their way out to the Quiditch pitch with the rest of the school, carrying heaps of toast and sausages to eat while watching the game.
Remus was still eyeing Sirius funnily although he refrained from saying exactly what he thought. 'That's the thing' Sirius thought 'he won't say the truth, incase it upsets me. He likes being liked too much.'
Sirius had never felt more uncomfortable, sitting between Remus and Peter. Peter was sniffing quietly; he had obviously taken the prat comment to heart. Again.
Sirius shouted with relief as the teams trouped out. The Slytherins had obviously gone for brawn. None of their players were shorter than six feet and James was easily the smallest player on the pitch.
Yet when they kicked off Sirius was surprised to see the Slytherins weren't just thugs on broomsticks, they could obviously play. Swooping in and out, flying perilously close to James. Just enough to put him off, but not enough to actually be accused of cheating.
James was flying well. He was good. As good as he had said he was. But James wasn't the type to lie, he boasted but only about the truth. He didn't need to exaggerate.
The game progressed pretty quickly, Slytherin scored twice and Griffindor replied by scoring three times. James was playing well, tackling the Slytherins with increasing nerve. It was only a matter of time before he scored himself.
Not before long their voices were hoarse with shouting and Griffindor were fifty points ahead. James had scored three times but had been knocked off his broom just after the third. A large sloth like Slytherin had held up his hands and shrugged, as if James had flown into his foot.. James got up, looking dazed and confused but had gamely got back on his broom.
Sirius was relieved to see his outburst at breakfast hadn't affected his game. It was starting to grow dark when the Griffindor seeker suddenly went hurtling down towards the pitch, followed closely by the Slytherin seeker.
Hopson, the Griffindor seeker pulled out of his dive with a sharp twist holding his hand a loft. A glitter of gold could be seen. Griffindor had won by one hundred and seventy points.
