:Chapter Twelve:

That following week, looking forward to the Quidditch Word Cup, James and Sirius spent their sunny days at the lake, in the garden, in the forest nearby and when it rained, they enjoyed themselves indoors.

On Tuesday Sirius was finally allowed to take his sling off. So the next day (the day before the World Cup) the two boys grabbed their brooms and in no time they were on their way to a deserted field, some what one mile away from the village.
When they passed some Muggle Houses, James (to Sirius' great amusement) nicked a 'For Sale' sign out of a garden and planted it back in some one else's garden.

Within thirty minutes, they had reached the field and were up in the air. First, Sirius let James catch some rocks which he threw at him. James caught every single one of them with excellent moves, except for one, but that was because Sirius tossed that one over his shoulder to foul James.

It was then, that James soared towards the ground, picked some grass from it, flew back to Sirius and dropped the grass in his best friend's hair.
"Hey!" Sirius complained loudly, immediately reaching for his hair.

"Not the hair!" James mouthed with his 'Mr Hand', as Sirius said it at exactly the same time.

"Go-" Sirius started, messing up James badly, "-fuck yourself!"
"Nah, not now." James said laughing. "But let's see what you make out of catch practice."

Sirius swayed his hair out of his eyes and into model again and shrugged.

"Fine with me."

So now it was James' turn to throw the rocks for Sirius to catch. Sirius caught quite many of 'm, but not as many as James did.

"And once again, I won." James said when they were back on the ground again "Can't you do anything?" he added teasingly.

Sirius thought for a moment.

"Actually, I can." with this, a grin spread over his face. "Let's play Shuntbumps."

James rolled his eyes.

"But- that's- for- kids, Padhead."

"No, it's not," Sirius said stubbornly.

"Yes, it is." James said even more stubbornly.

"They used to play it for professional."

"Used to, yes. Not anymore. Now it's only played by kids."

"Well, if you think it's that easy, why not play it, hm?" Sirius said, raising a challenging eyebrow. "I've got an injured arm. The advantage will be yours alone."

James rolled his eyes again, followed by a fake, heavy sigh.

"Alright, then. But only one game, okay?"

"Fine with me." Sirius said, sounding almost cheerful. "I'll be merciful. We'll stop at twenty."
James nodded and mounted his broom. Sirius did the same.
"Let's see who'll be the loser now." he said, the grin still sticking to his face.

After a couple of minutes, Sirius had definitely won with a fair eighteen points. James had the leftover two points, but one of them was because he had pulled Sirius with him when Sirius had pushed James of his broom for at least the tenth time.

Sirius laughed.

"Say it Prongs. I'm the best."

"Okay… I'm the best." James said, smiling toothily.

"I meant me, Stagprick." Sirius muttered semi-offended.

James laughed.

"Never heard that one before. And stop spitting."

"It's not me. It's that one over there." Sirius said looking up, pointing at a dark cloud that slowly moved in front of the sun, leaking thick drops of rain.

The boys flew to the ground and settled themselves under a large Oak, which kept them dry.

They ate their lunch and talked a bit.

"When I've finished school," Sirius said. "I'll buy a motorbike"

"You mean zee ower large vikes?" James said, his mouth full of sandwich.

Sirius nodded. "They're so extremely cool!"

"Hm," James swallowed. "I rather prefer a broom. At least they can fly."

Sirius took a gulp of his pumpkin juice.

"Well, motorbikes don't attract so much attention with the Muggles. And who said motorbikes can't fly?" He said grinning.

"Oh dear," James said, getting another two sandwiches out of the basket. "You will never be able to keep things for what they are. Chicken or egg?" James held the sandwiches in front of Sirius.

Sirius looked at the sandwiches. Then said:

"Egg, please."

They both snorted and laughed.

When they woke up the next day, it was already Wednesday. Quidditch World Cup day.

They had contacted Remus and Peter and had arranged that James would bring a tent for the four of them and that Peter's parents would sleep in their own tent.

When they were finished packing, they said goodbye to Mr and Mrs Potter and made their way to the cornfield nearby where they would be taking a portkey to the camp side. There would be other people traveling with that particular portkey, so when they arrived, there was already one family and another boy from James' village waiting. They were standing behind a tennis ball which they presumed was the portkey.

The boy informed them that apart from them, there was still one family to come, so they waited for them.

After a few minutes, a man and a woman with two boys came from behind a barn and walked over to the group. That meant they were complete and were ready to go. The man picked the ball up, checked his watch and informed them it would work in one minute.

They all took hold of the ball and after a while, Sirius felt a jerk behind his navel and within seconds, he stood, together with the others, on a path leading to the entrance of the camp side.

Very soon, James and Sirius spotted Peter with his parents. They greeted each other.

"Moony hasn't arrived yet?" Sirius asked, dropping his bag and the sack including the tent, onto the ground.

"No, not yet," Peter said. Then he looked past Sirius. "But he's-"

Remus, who had just arrived, walked up to them but gestured Peter not to say anything. Then he hid himself in the bushes.

"He's what?" Sirius repeated Peter, who suddenly stopped half way his sentence. He looked around, then back at Peter again.

"Oh-" Peter said quickly, trying to make something up.

"He- he said he'd be a bit later."

"Then," James replied, "we have to wait a little bit."

Remus left his bag in the bushes, picked a tree that stood nearby his friends and silently started to climb it.

"What time is it?" Sirius asked James.

James looked at his watch. But before Sirius received the answer, he heard something rustle above his head, got suddenly showered by leaves, felt someone jump on his back and felt it messing up his hair badly.

"Hey! NOT! THE! HAIR!" he said loudly, trying to shake Remus off his back.

Remus (who let go now), James and Peter laughed amused.

"Thanks for the ticket." Remus said laughing.

"Hmhm." Sirius said in a 'yeah-right' kind of way, fixing his hair. "Everybody always thinks Mr Lupin is such a nice and sweet guy, but actually you're a real big bastard, you know that!"

Remus was still laughing.

"No, really. Thank you for the ticket, Paddypoo."

Sirius playfully pushed Remus aside.

"Oh, you're welcome, you big pile of shit!"

"Peter?" Mrs Pettigrew said quietly, turning to her son. "Don't you think it'll be better if you sleep in our tent?"

"No, mum." Peter complained. "I've already been sleeping in the same room with them for five years!"

"Don't worry, ma'am." Remus said politely. "In all these years, Sirius' rude behaviour never infected Peter in whatsoever."

"Alright then." Mrs Pettigrew said, as Remus received another playful push from Sirius' direction.

"Shall we go then?" Mr Pettigrew finally said.

They all nodded, got their bags and walked towards the ticket box where they would pay for their camping places. After Mr Pettigrew had paid, they made their way over the camp side.

After a ten minute walk past tents, restrooms and all kinds of people, they reached their reserved spots.

Because it was a Muggle campsite, they had to build the tents without magic. That was no problem for James and Sirius, for they had already done it once, when they camped in James' back garden two years ago. Though, when Mr and Mrs Pettigrew were finished with their tent, the boys were still busy with theirs, because James kept running after Peter, who kept nicking the herrings.

"Is this the last?" Sirius asked James who handed him a herring which he just nicked back from Peter.

James nodded, panting.
Sirius slammed the last one in the ground with a hammer (oh, how he loved that). Then he observed the tent from a distance. He frowned.

"There's something missing." Sirius said, spotting a lopsided side. "Peter!"

"I don't have it. I swear!" Peter said giggly, as he walked over to Sirius.

"No," Sirius said. "I want you to hold that." he pointed at the hanging corner of cloth.

Peter did so.

"Like this?"

"A little higher. Perfect. Mr Potter!" Sirius motioned James to come and have a look.

James came standing next to Sirius.

"Wadda ya think?" Sirius asked semi-professionally, folding his arms in front of his chest.

"Perfect." James said determinately.

"Come on. Let's go inside." Sirius said.

"Hey! What about me?" Peter said, still holding the cloth up.

"Oh, you just stay there for three days." Sirius said very seriously.

"Oh, very funny!" Peter said, pulling a face.

James, on the other hand, laughed his head off.

"I found your replacement, Peter." Remus said, coming from behind the tent. He carried the missing stick.

"It was still in the bag." he said to Sirius, handing Peter the stick. "Oh, and I found a stowaway… Yours?" Remus picked a green Iguana out of his neck, giving it to Sirius.

"Mayor!" Sirius said cheerfully, taking him over from Remus, stroking it and placing it on his shoulder. "Our little, green friend."

"Oh, sweet Merlin." James said unbelievingly. "You took him with you!"

"Of course." Sirius answered, as if it was a stupid question. "If your parents turn out to be such sissies like you, he'd starve to death." He explained, entering the tent.

James sighed and rolled his eyes.

'Crickets.' he mouthed to Remus, pulling a face.

Remus smiled as they followed Sirius inside.