Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. JKR does.
ShelbyBlack: I'm glad you like her! I thought that since you liked Sirius, you would like your character to have that part!
My b-day was a few days ago! So leave me a few reviews :D
I've been away for a while so I couldn't update. I'm leaving again today for a whole month but luckily I'll still be able to update, though not as often as every week
Chapter Seven
James sighed deeply. It was late Monday afternoon, and since he was Quidditch Captain, he had to watch the most pathetic tryouts ever for two chasers and a seeker. The other past team members were also stuck watching the feeble attempts at flying and scoring. Sirius and Anne Boloski were the team beaters, and James was a chaser. Andrew Wood was the keeper.
"Wait!" cried a voice.
James turned and saw a fleeting glance of three figures tearing across Hogwarts' Grounds towards him.
They arrived breathing heavily. All three were girls in sixth year. "We want to try out," one of the girls said.
"Names, please, and position," James said
"Samantha Hurley, but call me Sammie," announced one of the girls proudly. "Chaser!" She was a platinum blonde with large blue eyes and pale skin.
"I'm Ciara Galdiz," said a second girl. Dark hair framed dark eyes and a flawless face. "I'd also like to be chaser."
"Kimberly or Kim Randazzo," smiled the third. She was pretty with a small frame, dark hair covered by light wispy strands, green eyes, and skin like a porcelain doll. "Seeker."
"Alright." Sirius stood and yawned. "Let's see what Sammie and Ciara can do against Andrew." Out of ten shots on the Keeper, Ciara made six while Sammie made five.
For Kim, they decided to have her dive and catch a charmed floating cherry. She pulled out of the dive, cherry in hand.
"The results will be posted in the Gryffindor common room by tomorrow," James said monotonously, but with a slightly relieved look pasted on his face that there were a few people in Gryffindor who had natural Quidditch talent.
It was no surprise who had made the Quidditch Team when the results were posted the next day; Sammie Hurley and Ciara Galdiz were two of the team chasers while Kim Randazzo was the new seeker.
James found all three girls in the Great Hall during lunch.
"I just wanted to give you the Quidditch schedule," James said, passing around the three identical pieces of parchment. "Practice is Monday through Friday from seven until I say we're done. Our first match is a week from Saturday against Hufflepuff."
All three girls nodded showing that they understood as James winked and sauntered down the table to where Sirius, Remus, and Peter were planning their adventures for the next full moon that was to be on Friday. James couldn't help but notice that Sirius was glaring over at the Slytherin table at Snape.
He understood why as he followed the direction of Snape's gaze and saw that it landed on Bridget chatting animatedly with Lily farther down the Gryffindor table. 'Damn,' James thought. 'With a temper like Padfoot's, who knows what he could be thinking?'
"We need to start planning the Halloween Ball," Lily said on Friday evening at the prefect meeting. "We should vote on the theme. Anyone want to nominate an idea?"
"Masquerade!" Meghen exclaimed immediately.
"Great, any others?" James asked.
When no one made any comment, Lily announced, "Then a masquerade it is!"
As the prefect meeting concluded, James snuck out of the DMR (lol) and sprinted back up to the Head's dorm. He whispered the password and hurried to grab the invisibility cloak. James met up with Sirius and Peter near the Gryffindor common room. He threw the cloak over the pair of them and they made their way to the Entrance Hall. Together, they yanked the old side door open and crept into the night.
Little did they know that they were being followed.
Lily glanced up from the prefect meeting and saw that James had immediately bolted out the door. Curiously, she followed quietly and found that he was only going back to the common room. Lily sighed and was about to enter the common room anyway when James bolted past her and down the hall.
Annoyed, Lily followed James and was about to tell him off when she saw him meet with Peter and Sirius. 'Where's Remus?' she thought. Then, the three of them disappeared before her eyes.
Lily's eyes widened in surprise as a nearby side door opened and closed. No one had been there to open or close it. Thinking that this was a Marauder Prank, she wanted to stop it before it started and she, too, slipped into the night.
As three of the Marauders stole their way to the Whomping Willow, James spotted a dark figure near the tree. They pressed the knot and disappeared from sight.
"Bloody Hell!" James groaned. He quickly transformed into his animagus form, a stag, and raced across the grounds. The tree was still frozen from the person pressing the knot before, allowing James to quickly enter the shack.
Whoever had frozen the knot was nowhere in sight. 'This can't be happening,' James thought. He pushed aside an overturned chair using his antlers and swiftly continued to where Remus usually transformed.
Then he saw the person a little ways ahead. He transformed back into human form and ran to where they were trying to climb up rickety stairs. It was Snape.
"You shouldn't be here, you have to leave," James urged.
"You have no rights to be here either, Potter," Snape sneered. "Now I'm finally going to find out where it is Lupin goes every month. I always knew his relative wasn't really sick."
"Damn it, Snape, if you don't come now, you're going to die," James warned in the same pressing tone.
But it was too late. Moony emerged from the top of the creaking stairs as the fully-grown werewolf he was. Moony snarled as Snape started to retreat slowly but surely. James had no means of defense. He couldn't transform in front of Snape because he could be put in Azkaban for the rest of his life and he had no wand.
"Snape, do something smart for once and give me your wand. I know how to fend him off," James whispered.
"No!" was the reply.
"Give me the bloody wand!" James whispered more harshly.
"No! You'll only save your own arrogant skin! I could care less about what happened to the likes of you!" Snape yelled.
The loud noises attracted Moony's attention. By this time he had already crashed down the stairs and seemed to be waiting for either James or Snape to move. He started to growl more fiercely as James wrestled the wand from out of Snape's grasp. Being careful not to point the wand directly at the werewolf and keep it away from Snape, James conjured a brick wall separating Moony from the two of them.
Knowing that in no time Moony would tear the wall down, James sprinted to the opening of the Whomping Willow with Snape on his heels to find Peter, Sirius, and surprisingly Lily waiting by the entrance.
"C'mon, we have to leave now," James shouted and with no further adieu, all five were on the Hogwarts grounds dodging the wrath of the tree.
They eventually all made it far enough from the tree to avoid the flying branches. "What are you doing here, Lily?" James burst out.
"I saw all of you coming out here after hours and I thought you were starting a new prank," Lily defended. "Sirius and Peter explained everything to me, though."
James glared at the two of them. "She would have gone and gotten attacked if we hadn't!" Sirius exclaimed.
James sighed. "How much does she know?"
"Just about Remus," Peter piped up.
"He's not going to be happy about that," James warned.
"Well, what else could we have told her?" Sirius retorted.
"You're usually creative with excuses though, aren't you Black?" Snape's eyes glinted.
"Shut up, Snape. If you hadn't been eyeing Monbourne, than I wouldn't have had to get revenge," Sirius snapped.
James was fuming. "You're the reason we were nearly killed?"
"He was checking Monbourne out!" Sirius defended.
James only glared and started to move angrily towards the castle. The others all followed in a scared silence.
"How'd you do it, Padfoot?" Peter whispered curiously.
"Wrote a letter," Sirius said uninterestedly. "Anonymous, of course. Basically, it said that if Snape wanted to find out where Remus went every month, he should go to the Whomping Willow late on Friday. It also included pressing the knot and that the tunnel led to the Shrieking Shack."
"Typical of a Marauder," Lily muttered. 'But what James did wasn't,' she added silently to herself.