Wormtail Can Play Quidditch

It's been one week since Padfoot's suspension, and the Marauders were at an all time low. We haven't created havoc for almost a month. Only two of us were actively speaking to each other, Moony and I.

Padfoot had sent us a letter pleading for forgiveness everyday. In less than a week it became a routine. We get the letter, read it, and burn it, right there in the Great Hall.

Moony and I headed down the boys' staircase to the common room.

"What d'you reckon that's about," said Moony pointing to the Gryffindor notice board. There was a crowd of people surrounding. We made our way over to the notice board to steal a peak at it.

Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff

Match date changed. Match will now take place next Saturday, the fifteenth.

"What!" I yelled. Why didn't I know about this? I'm captain! I have to know about these things! What the hell?

"Prongs, wasn't that game supposed to be next week? Why did they change it?"

"I know. I guess I'll talk to McGonagall. Later though, let's go eat." Moony nodded. We went to the Great Hall. Moony and I sat near Alice. Across from me was Evans, who was sitting in between Piper and Emi.

"Morning," I grumbled tiredly. I heard a few 'heys,' and 'mornings' in return. I looked up from my plate to look at Evans. She was talking to Emi as if she hadn't noticed I arrived. But she had noticed, everyone notices when I arrive.

I stared at her for a while. I loved the way she licked her lips after she had a bit of pumpkin juice. I loved the way eyes lit up when she smiled and the way that she played a piece of her hair when she was zoning out.

It must have finally annoyed he that I was staring because she turned her head to look at me. As if to see if I would look away, my gaze didn't falter. She raised a questioning eyebrow at me. I loved that too.

I heard a familiar rumbling above me, the mail had arrived. I spotted two familiar owls among the thousands that were flying above me, Padfoot's owl and my mothers' owl.

I looked at Moony. He took out his wand, ready to complete our new daily routine.

Padfoot's owl landed and stuck out his leg.

"Thanks, Mercury," the auburn owl bowed his head a bit and flew professionally away. I handed Moony the letter and watched as my owl headed towards the Gryffindor table. As it began to get closer, its direction changed and it headed towards Evans and perched itself on her side of the table.

"Adam! I'm over here," Adam looked at me but stayed put in his stop and stretched out his leg in Evans' direction.

Evans took the letter, "It says my name on it." She looked up at me. "Is this your owl?"

"No, it's my mums," Adam flew away with out as much as a hoot.

"Why would your mum be sending me letters?"

"I dunno, open it," I said impatiently wanting to see what it was about, and hoping it wasn't anything embarrassing.

I watched her open it. Her eyes barely red a line or two before she got up unexpectedly and walked out of the Great Hall.

"Oh no!" I looked at Piper she had her hand over her mouth and was crumpling the letter she had just received.

"What's wrong?" Moony asked.

"My dad... he's at Mungo's. He had an accident with one of the creatures he works with..." She broke into tears.

"It's ok, everything will be ok," Emi tried to comfort her.

Emi accompanied Piper up to the girls' dormitory to calm her down.

"What's wrong with her," Alexandra, another sixth year Gryffindor, said as she arrived with Frank and Davy. Alexandra was Alice's best friend and she had long, dark hair that reached below her waist and hazel eyes that were filled with scattered flecks of purple.

"Umm, she just got some bad news," Alice answered her.

"Hey Prongs, read this." I took the letter that Moony was handing me.

Hey guys,

It's been a week and you guys won't forgive me. I guess I deserve it, wait no, I KNOW I deserve it.

I know I'm going to sound repetitive, but I'm not sure if you've read the other ones either way.

Remus, I know I betrayed you and I know you trusted me with your secret and I just abused your trust. But do you think that somehow you can forgive, now that I have acknowledged my mistakes?

James, when you were in the hospital dying I thought I was going to die too. You're like a brother to me. I didn't want to lose you. When I blamed it all on Lily I wasn't in my right state of mind. I feel extremely bad. I didn't want to make her cry, I swear.

Peter won't talk to me either. He says he's tired of letting me boss him around. He's right. All of you are right. I was wrong and I admit that, no matter how hard it is.

So, Mr. Moony, Mr. Prongs, Mr. Wormtail, will you accept Mr. Padfoot's humble apology?

Sirius

P.S. I sent Lily a letter with Adam. I apologized to her too. I know you would've asked me to Prongs.

This was by far the longest letter he had written, he was getting desperate. I looked up at Moony, he had his wand at the ready.

"Three..." he began. I crumpled Padfoot's letter, though not as willingly as I had before.

"Two..." I continued. I levitated the crumpled piece of parchment at eye level.

"One..." Moony quickly said a spell and waved his wand. We watched as the parchment silently turned to ashes before our eyes.

We made sure the fire was out and the mess was cleaned before any of the teachers took notice.

"Now that's done with, what should we do?" Moony turned to me.

"Um, I don't know. Oh wait, I have to ask McGonagall about the game." I looked at the staff table, but McGonagall wasn't there. "Where is she?"

"I dunno, she's probably in her office, or giving somebody a detention. Check the map."

"I don't have it. Don't you?"

"No, I haven't even seen it since last week."

"Yeah, me neither. I hope one of those two idiots has it."

"Yeah, let's check in her office."

"Let's go."

With a quick goodbye at the others Moony and I exited the Great Hall.

After a few minutes we already had four hallways, two staircases, and one secret passage behind us.

"Hey James," the girl that was approaching us as we neared McGonagall's office spoke to me.

"Um, Hi," I couldn't remember her name. She was that Hufflepuff that gave me that message from McGonagall. What was her name?

She glanced at Moony and gave him a small smile.

"Uh, Remus, right?"

"Yeah, hi," he said.

"So, uh, better get going," she said nervously tucking her long brown hair behind her ear. "I've got classes to get to. Bye."

"Bye," Moony and I said in unison.

After walking down the hallway for a few silent moments I asked, "Do you know her name?"

Moony chuckled, "You're not that good with names, are you?"

I shook my head.

"It's Yumi something, she's a prefect. Hufflepuff."

"Oh yeah, Yumi."

"She likes you, I can tell," Moony smiled mischievously.

"You and Piper should really join forces."

"We're here."

I knocked on the door we had just approached. No answer.

"She's not here. This sucks, should we wait for her?" Moony asked.

"I don't know, if we wait too long we'll be late for class." I looked at my watch, only about half an hour left until class began.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Lupin may I ask what you are doing here, instead of getting ready for class?"

"Professor!" I said as happily as I could manage.

"What do you want, Mr. Potter?"

"I would like to inquire why the upcoming game has been change to this Saturday," I stated as if I was in a business meeting.

McGonagall shook her head at my manner of speaking. "Mr. Potter you must speak with the head of events, Professor Grunky."

Professor Grunky was the Divination Professor and the head of the Hufflepuff house, I was beginning to piece things together. We had Divination with Professor Grunky later in the day.

Moony and I raced to the dungeons for Potions. We arrived to class ten minutes late, despite our efforts.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Lupin, I'm so happy you've decided to finally grace us with your presence, please take your seats," Professor Slughorn ushered us into class, graciously overlooking the fact that we were late.

I took my regular seat, behind Piper, and Moony took the seat next to me, leaving Wormtail, in the table behind us, by himself.

Professor Slughorn bounced inside his office, leaving the classroom unattended.

"What are we doing?" I leaned in to ask Piper.

"Copying notes for the next potion we're doing," she pointed at the blackboard. It was filled with complicated numbers and directions to the brim. "Did you hear?"

I raised my eyebrow amusedly at her. She was always doing that, "Hear what?"

"Greta Catchlove and Todd Turner are dating, I always knew they would go well together."

I shook my head and began to copy down the directions.

"Hey Lupin!" I looked to my right and saw Snape smirking. I looked at Moony, he was copying the ingredients to the Befuddlement Draught. "Lupin, I was hoping that maybe you could pass me that." He was pointing at something on the ground near our table.

Moony and I looked down at it, it was a ring of keys. They were all silver.

"Get it yourself you slimy git," I said utterly disgusted. Everyone was looking at us now.

"Why can't Lupin get it, he's much closer," Snape said with an idiotic grin on his face.

Even though he had his back to me, I could sense Moony glaring at Snape.

"Accio Keys!" I said and directed the keys straight at Snivellus' face. He ducked and they hit Wilkes instead.

Everyone, with the exception of the Slytherin population, burst out laughing.

"I leave for one second and this class goes amuck! Ten points from Slytherin and Gryffindor and three feet on the importance of proper classroom conduct. Due tomorrow!" Many groans were heard from both sides of the classroom. "No protesting! Get back to work!"

Everyone from the Slytherin side of the classroom was glaring at Moony and me. The Gryffindors, in return, were glaring at Snape. All except one, of course, Evans, who was glaring at me. Why? I just don't know.

"You should be finishing up and getting ready to start your potion in ten minutes. Don't waste time. And if I hear as much as a sigh from any of you, you'll all get detention!"

After an excruciatingly long session of Potions, we dragged our feet to Divination. We got just in time, I went up to Professor Grunky, who was rearranging teapots, to ask him about the Quidditch match.

"Professor,"

"What is it?" He was in a grumpy mood.

"I wanted to ask you about the Quiditch match, that you changed..."

He looked up at me for the first time as if he just noticed who was talking to me. "Potter, come to me after class."

I took my squishy pouf next to Moony and stared absentmindedly into the crystal ball.

"What'd he say?" he asked.

"To talk to him after class." The Hufflepuffs began to disperse into the classroom. Among them was Craig Knight, the Hufflepuff Quiditch captain. And very possibly the one behind all of the changing of game schedules.

He glanced my way and took a pouf on the other side of the classroom—Bastard.

"As you all know there has been rise in an evil wizard who is calling himself Lord Voldermort. He has been around for quite some time now and the Ministry is under much stress." He paused at this, a dead silence overcame the room.

Most of the people in this room had been affected by him in one way or another already. I know I had.

"The reason I bring this up is because today we're going to study a method of predicting danger. This is a very serious matter. I believe it is imperative that you learn this soon as possible, for everyone's safety."

Silence.

"If you would please come here and grab a candle, one per person please, and take your seats for further instruction."

After an hour of learning a very important method of predicting danger that was completely useless, class ended. I quickly sat up from my pouf and stumbled a bit from the dizzying effect of the room.

"Professor Grunky," I called after him just as he was about to make his escape. "What about the match?"

"Oh, Mr. Potter, I almost forgot. I'm afraid it's much too late. You must make a compromise with Mr. Knight, there's nothing I can do," with a sly grin on his face he slipped out of his classroom.

Great, now I have to talk with the bastard. Now where would he have gone… No worries I must go to Transfiguration. I'll deal with the prat later.

I snuck out of Transfiguration a few minutes early and raced to where the Hufflepuff's were stationed. I knew that they were scheduled to have Arithmancy now because Remus had that class. I got there just in time to meet with my good friend Knight.

"Hey, Knight!"

He turned and I noticed that he was talking to Evans. He said something to her and she nodded and continued walking, he waited for me to reach him.

"Hello James, What's the matter?" He asked nervously, he knew what was up.

"I wanted to ask you about the Quidditch match," I said, trying not to interrogate him about Evans.

He looked at me guiltily, "What about it?"

"Well, for starters, the date was changed," I said as if I was talking to a troll. "Without my knowledge."

"Oh, that," he mumbled in feigned ignorance. He seemed to be thinking of what to say as I looked at him expectantly. "The thing is that… well, I didn't think it would… be, um, a problem… and then…"

"What is that you really want to say, Knight." I could tell that he was getting frustrated, the bastard probably thought I was going to let him get away with trying to sabotage the team that easily.

He looked at me and sighed angrily, he began to speak—clearly this time, "It's Professor Grunky, he's bent on winning this match, something about a bet with McGonagall. Anyways, when he heard that Black was suspended he knew your team would be ready in time. So, he changed the date and told me to say that I asked him to. There's nothing I can do…"

Nothing he can do? That bastard, if he thought for one second that I believed his bull, then is very mistaken indeed… trying to pin it all on Grunky. Can't he take responsibility for what he did like a man?

"Look, I don't care what you do Knight, but you better fix this and fast. I really don't have time for this."

He scoffed as I turned, but I ignored it. Remus came beside me, I had barely noticed he was there. "Where did you come from?"

"I was waiting for you around the corner, thought you might want to deal with that by yourself."

"Yeah, if they don't change the match, we're done with Remus. I don't have another beater and if I don't get a replacement soon we'll have to forfeit."

Remus smiled at him slightly, "Don't worry, if anything you can always get Peter to fill in." They both laughed hysterically, relieving themselves of something they hadn't done in quite a while.