James waited to get his revenge on the Slytherin Quidditch team until a warm spring day in mid-March, less than a week before Slytherin's match against Ravenclaw. Under cover of the Invisibility Cloak, James and Sirius flew up into one of the pitch's spectator towers as the Slytherins were wrapping up their final post-match practice, swooping and diving through the sky and tossing Quaffles back and forth between them.
"Oh, great," Sirius muttered, gesturing towards the team's smallest player while still concealed by the Cloak. "It's Reg."
James, who'd yet to see Regulus Black play thanks to his missing the Slytherin-Gryffindor game, narrowed his eyes as he studied the young Seeker. "He flies pretty well," he said eventually. Sirius shot him a wounded look.
Ignoring him, James drew his wand and cleared his throat, suddenly feeling a bit daunted. He and Sirius had spent the past two weeks learning the spells they were to perform, but they'd never tried them out on so many people at once, or at such a distance. "All right. You ready for this, Sirius?"
"I've been ready for months, Jamesey." Sirius drew his wand, too, and gave James a wicked little grin.
Concentrating, James flicked his wand at the Slytherin players, doing his best to channel the energy of the spell out to all of them. "Occufy."
It took a moment for the spell to take effect; then the Slytherins began to shout and grab at their blinded eyes, careening off in every direction. A Bludger slammed against Rosier's forehead, its force sending him spinning backwards into Crabbe. Regulus was screeching, dangling sideways off his broom.
"Now your turn," James told Sirius.
His grin widening, Sirius raised his wand and tilted his chin at the Slytherins. "Serpifors."
A loud, sinister hiss filled the stadium as the Slytherins' seven broomsticks grew fangs and scales, transforming into large, undulating serpents. The snake-brooms having lost their powers of flight, their riders plummeted to the ground, landing with a sickening crunch in a pile of Quidditch robes and what James hoped were many broken bones. The serpents slithered free and lunged for the Slytherins, sinking their teeth into their mangled limbs as they cursed and screamed.
"Oh, this is perfect," Sirius said; he was hiding a laugh behind one of his hands. "Keep going, James."
James tapped the tip of his wand against his throat and murmured "Sonorus." In his deepest, most ominous-sounding voice, his words amplified in volume enough to shake the stands, he said, "The ancient curse of Salazar Slytherin has been imposed upon you all. You have disgraced his once-noble house and Quidditch team by failing to win your game against the Gryffindors without first poisoning their best Chaser."
"Alice and Mary would beg to differ," Sirius said quietly.
"You are no longer worthy of the robes you wear. Your future House members shall look upon you in shame, and remember you forevermore as the loser prats you truly are."
"Oi, James." Sirius tugged suddenly on his sleeve and pointed over the side of the tower to a trio of wizards flying from the castle towards the pitch, led by the hawk-eyed Madam Hooch. "Someone must've heard something. We've got to get out of here."
"Damn it," James said, his voice returning to its usual volume. "I wasn't finished yet." But he couldn't resist one last charm: with a wave of his wand, he conjured up a giant lion's head over the grassy pitch, and it let out a deafening roar right in the ears of the shrieking Slytherins. Then he climbed onto his broomstick in front of Sirius, adjusting the Cloak to make sure it covered both of them completely, and took off, swooping down and away from the pitch before Hooch and the others could arrive to survey the scene.
Sirius laughed into his shoulder all the way back to the castle. "That might just have been the most brilliant thing we've done yet," he said proudly.
"I agree," said James as they tumbled off the broom and into the long grass of the school grounds. He could still hear the screaming coming from the stadium. "And Ravenclaw is seriously going to owe us now. We've just handed them the easiest Quidditch win in the world."
