"You get what?" Jerry nearly spit out his food.
"I get to try out for Quidditch," James admitted, shoveling a forkful of potatoes into his mouth.
"A first year trying out for Quidditch!" Fred gaped. "Why wouldn't you tell us sooner?"
The five of them, James, Jerry, Fred, Roxanne, and Alice, were all eating lunch in the Great Hall and getting ready for Herbology.
"I didn't know until recently," James said. "You guys don't think I'm getting on the team just because my dad's the Great Mr. Potter or whatever?"
"Who cares? If my dad were famous I'd take every advantage I could get!" Jerry was still staring at James in disbelief.
"Listen, I've already got Slughorn leading my fan club, I don't need any more favors. Especially not from the teachers."
Roxanne shook her head, "You're an idiot."
"What?" James was shocked. "I thought you of all people would be on my side!"
"Not when it comes to Quidditch. James, you're really good! You could get on the team even without famous parents," Roxanne assured him.
"I could," James admitted, "and I will. But no matter how great I am, everyone will say it's just because my dad called in a favor. They'll be wrong though, I know that."
"And we do too," Alice interjected. "James, you're great at this."
"Obviously."
"And you do want to be on the team," Alice said.
James sat thoughtfully for a second then shrugged, "Checks out to me."
"Mate, throw away what's fair and look at what's in front of you," Jerry pointed out. "This is the coolest thing ever! Imagine what it would mean that you could go out there and lead the team as a first year."
"I'm not leading the team. I'm not even sure I'll get on. I've only been offered the chance to try out."
Alice rolled her eyes, "Ignore him, James. Just do what you want to do."
James smiled at her gratefully, "Thanks, Alice. Who knows, maybe our game later today will clear my head."
Fred perked up, "You're having a game later? Why wasn't I invited?"
James blushed, "We organized it this morning with the boys in our room. But you're in the other dorm so I guess I just forgot to include you. You can still come if you want. You too, Roxanne."
Fred and Roxanne looked at each other.
"James," Roxanne began slowly, "you're off your rocker if you think we'd ever pass up the opportunity to whip your sorry butt."
"As if you could," James scoffed.
"Well I guess we'll find out, won't we?" Roxanne challenged. "When's the game."
"During dinner," Jerry volunteered. Nobody will be on the pitch then. Alice is getting us brooms to play with."
"Speaking of which, how many brooms do we need?" Alice asked. "I assume we don't have the usual fourteen players?"
"Right now we've got eight players," James said. "You, me, Fred, Roxanne, Jerry, Lucas, Archie, and Philip."
"Philip's playing?" Fred asked. "He couldn't mount a toy broom!"
"James thinks we should just leave him in goal and see how he fares," Jerry grinned. "I think it sounds like a laugh."
"We'll do a keeper, a beater, and two chasers for each team. No need for a seeker seeing as we haven't got a snitch," James said. "Obviously I'll be one captain so you all can fight to see who'll lead the other team."
"Why do you get to be captain?" Roxanne protested.
"Because I'm the best Quidditch player," James said smugly.
"Well I reckon we should make Archie the other captain," said Jerry ignoring the snickers from the others. "He's a terrible flyer but he at least knows the game and is the most impartial out of all of us."
Alice shrugged, "I'm fine with Archie being a captain."
Fred rolled his eyes, "It's better than Philip at least. Or Lucas. The way he was bragging during our flying lesson made me want to smack him with one of the brooms."
"Mind you, he is a good player," Roxanne cut in. "We've had matches multiple times. But he's definitely not as great as he thinks he is."
"That's an understatement," Fred snorted while Roxanne just shook her head and sighed. "Come on, I don't want to be late for Herbology."
"Look at you," James smirked, "a model of academic excellence."
"Oh please," Fred rolled eyes, "Roxanne and I are just luring everyone into a false sense of security before we really let loose. We're thinking of teaming up with Peeves. Have you met him yet? Well you should. He's great."
"What house is he in?" Jerry asked, leading the group out of the Great Hall.
"He's not in any house, he's a poltergeist," Alice grimaced. "And he's a total nightmare."
"Peeves?" Fred said in disbelief. "No way. He's great! Found him throwing ink balloons at a group of Ravenclaws. Pegged Louis right in the stomach. It was awesome."
"We're thinking of getting him to help us flood Slughorn's office," Roxanne admitted jovially. "He was so rude to us during Potions. Heard who our dad was and moved right on."
"Well, your dad was a bit of a troublemaker," James laughed.
"Yeah, and he's not exactly encouraging us to stay out of it," Roxanne said. "Asked if we'd send him a toilet seat. We're getting that done tomorrow morning."
"A toilet seat?" Jerry asked in disbelief.
"Said it was a family tradition," Fred shrugged.
"We go this way," Alice pointed off to a path on the right. "That's the way to greenhouse one."
"What's in greenhouse one?" Jerry asked excitedly. "Anything poisonous?"
Alice shook her head sadly, "No. It's all the boring simple stuff. Flowers with enhanced scents and all that."
"Boo," Fred groaned. "Where's the cool stuff stashed?"
"Greenhouses four to six is where you'll find the really dangerous stuff. There's stuff in greenhouse six that even my dad has trouble with," Alice pointed off to a greenhouse that appeared to be completely covered by some kind of large flowering vine.
"It's temporarily out of order though," she explained. "That plant there takes your head off if you get too close to it. The flowers just reach out and bite you. They grew wild during the summer and now dad's having a hard time getting them under control."
"Wicked!" Fred and Roxanne said in unison, looking at greenhouse six with a disturbing amount of interest.
"Here we are," Alice stopped in front of greenhouse one and peered in. "Alright, my dad's already in there so his office is empty for sure. Tell him I'm in the bathroom and am gonna be late."
And with that she ran back up the hill towards the castle.
"What's she doing?" Fred asked.
"Her dad's got a master key in his office we think'll work on the broom cupboard," James explained, walking into the greenhouse.
Professor Longbottom looked up from the plant he was pruning and smiled. He walked over to where James was standing and shook his hand warmly.
"Well, it's been a long time hasn't it? I don't suppose you remember me?"
"I do a little bit," James said.
Professor Longbottom turned to Roxanne and Fred and a huge grin broke out across his face, "You must be George's twins. Are you as much trouble as he was?"
"Oh no, Professor," Roxanne said sweetly.
"Yes, we're very well behaved," Fred said, widening his eyes, the picture of innocence.
"Oh, you two are trouble," Professor Longbottom said, almost as if he were glad that the twins were so mischievous.
James decided he liked Professor Longbottom quite a bit. "Alice will be along in a second, Professor Longbottom. She's in the bathroom."
"You've met Alice? You know, you two used to be thick as thieves when you were little!"
"Yeah, we were talking about that earlier."
"It was always interesting to watch the two of you fight over who got to be the boss," Professor Longbottom chuckled. "Anyways, I heard about the Quidditch thing. You think you'll go for it?"
"Probably," James wished that Quidditch hadn't been brought up. He was starting to feel guilty about stealing such a nice man's keys.
"Huh," he nodded. "Well it's not up to me, but I think you'd be marvelous. Though I suppose I shouldn't be encouraging you as head of Hufflepuff. And after all Harry, er, sorry, your dad, played his first year. You're like him, I think."
Professor Longbottom walked off to begin class, unaware that he had just given James the nicest compliment he'd ever received.
