Chapter 3: the title

Sawyer, Sirius, Max, Gavin and James trudged into the common room and slumped into chairs in front of the fire. Lily, Peter, Remus and Ariana looked startled at the sight of them. Sawyer was covered in mud, Sirius was sported a black eye, James had a split lip and bags under his eyes, Max was holding an ice pack and once he was comfortable he put it on his lap and Gavin had the fingers on his right hand taped together.

"So, uh, how were try-outs?" Peter asked looking upon the confusing state of their friends.

"Well, on the bright side one day I might be able to reproduce." Max said.

"Max, I'm sooo sorry about that." Sawyer said "I'm going to kill Felix."

"I'm confused what happened?" Lily asked.

"Yeah you guys look like you just lost a fight with a hippogriff." Remus said.

"No, if we had, we wouldn't look this bad." Gavin grumbled.

"So it went that well did it?" Ariana questioned.

"You have no bloody idea." Sirius scowled.

"Ok, so we were at Quidditch try-outs-" James started

"I hadn't gathered that." Remus said sarcastically.

"And we were going fine until that demon decided he wanted to try out."

"What demon?"

"Felix." Sirius stated.

"I renounce any relation to him." Sawyer said.

"What did he do?" Lily asked

"What didn't he do?" Max corrected.

"The brat wanted to be on the team and James told him that he couldn't because he's a first year, and Felix refused to leave until he tried-out." Gavin said

"And so I yelled at him to get out and he didn't like that too much." Sawyer said.

"Then he launched himself at Sawyer after a little shouting match didn't work." Sirius continued

"They fell right into the mud." James said.

"I think my ass is bruised." Sawyer whined and shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"So then I went to pull him off her," Max said, "And he kicked me!"

"Right where the sun don't shine." Sirius cringed

Remus and Peter winced.

"And then Gavin got hold of him and pinned his arms and legs together." James explained

"Which of course he didn't like at all, so he held his breath until we would let him try out." Max said.

"But we didn't let him try out, and he's as stubborn as Sawyer so of course he held his breath and the idiot fainted." Sirius said

"So I took him up to the hospital wing with Max," Said Gavin "but when I came back it got worse."

"Sirius what happened to you're eye?" Ariana broke in.

"Oh, we're getting there" Sirius said "I was testing the wannabe beaters."

"Oh?" asked Remus.

"Yes oh. One the third years had slight difficulty gripping the bat. He pulled his arm back to hit the bludger and it flew out of his hand and hit me in the eye."

"Then he ducked as the bludger came towards him and then it hit James in the shoulder." Gavin said.

"The only up-side is that we have an amazing Seeker now. The downside is she was so excited that she caught the snitch she ran into Gavin and he sprained his fingers trying to stop her broom." James said

"The stupid twit." Sirius muttered.

"So who are your new players then?" Peter asked.

"Traci Madison is our new seeker, she's a fourth year and our new beater is Emilie Sawyer." James told the group

They looked at Sawyer "Your sister?"

"Yeah she's a third year; she helped me practice over the summer." Sawyer said.

"She's pretty good, the only one who didn't hurt someone." Max added.

"Why haven't you guys gone to the hospital wing?" Lily asked. "You look terrible."

James looked hurt "How could you ever think I wasn't good looking?"

"It's too far." whined Sirius.

"Aww! Poor baby!" Ariana said sarcastically.

"I'm going to go have a nice hot shower." Sawyer said getting up slowly.

"Good idea, I'm going to do that after I go to the hospital wing, I think I dislocated my shoulder." James said getting up again and heading out the portrait hole.

"Me too, my fingers are killing me." Gavin said following after James.

"I think I'll sit here for a while, until I get feeling in my...self again." Max said.

"I'm going to go have a shower." Sirius said "You know, in the boys dorms." he said looking at Ariana playfully.

"Ok don't hurt yourself." She replied.

He gave her a mischievous look, and then walked up the stairs.

A few moments later Ariana said "I umm, left my Herbology book on Sirius' bed; I'm going to go get it." And she went up the stairs.

Remus looked at the paper she left behind; it was an essay on Mandrakes resting on her open Herbology textbook. "Subtle." He said sarcastically.

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