James was struggling with how to handle all of the bull thrown his way. Obviously he wasn't allowing it to show on his face, he was a Potter and Potters were always the perfect purebloods. But inside he was a mess. The revelation that Remus was a werewolf had torn a gap in his friendships with said werewolf and Peter, who for some reason was angry with them for thinking any differently of him. James had been raised to understand that werewolves were dark creatures who stole babies away in the night to raise them as their own, then as a final initiation into the pack, sent said children to kill their birth families.

How was he supposed to feel about one of his best mates having hid something like this from them? "I can literally see you thinking right now and if you don't stop, I will knock you off your broom…" his captain growled out before disappearing to go sit with his own friends.

Sirius was watching him with a raised eyebrow. They'd been living together since the summer and had only gotten closer, officially brothers instead of just friends. "I'm going to tell you right now that you'll figure it out after the game. Being on a broom always seems to fix everything for you because you're an annoying wanker." He just opened his mouth when James threw a sausage at him, chewing loudly.

"You're an arse," James huffed but he was starting to feel a little less off balance. He finally settled when he was on his broom, with M.G still glaring at him while she swung her beaters club absentmindedly. She was terrifying to say the least, but it was even worse when they were playing against Slytherin because she carried her aunt's grudge. Her twin brother wasn't much better, but he was more in it for the fun instead of revenge.

Venus just happened to be on the other team and equally as terrifying. It was the first time they would be facing off as seekers and he was ready to destroy her. "Your glasses won't do much if that mullet of yours keeps getting in your eyes, you really should think about putting it in a bun."

Her comment distracted him from the whistle blowing and she was off before he could make a retort back. James rolled his eyes at her childish move, but turned his attention to the game. He made sure to stay out of his teammates way, knowing he didn't have enough time under his belt to work with them. The game was actually going pretty well, the Slytherins were keeping their fouls to the same count as the Gryfindors and they were evenly matched as far as he could see. An easy win wasn't a fun one, so he didn't mind.

In fact, James was enjoying just sitting lazily on his broom watching the action unfold until a flash of gold caught his eye. The Snitch. He might not have wanted this position to start with, but he was damn well going to prove himself while he had to deal with it.

Venus apparently had the same idea as she quickly met up with him as they dove for it, weaving around other players and selfishly ignoring their surroundings. "You're a bloody git, Potter, and I don't let gits win." The wind made it hard to hear, but James got the gist of it. This time though, he was too focused to reply. He needed to get that snitch. His silence must have turned her off as she shut her mouth after that.

There, he thought as he caught sight of the snitch trying to dodge around one of the goals. He sped up just enough to reach out, but Venus was right alongside him. They each went for it at the same time, completely unaware of the bludger heading straight for them.

When James woke up, he was confused as to why he couldn't remember falling asleep in the first place. There was blood seeping through a bandage on his arm, but otherwise he wasn't too badly damaged. "Gnarly…" He tried to sit up, but apparently his body had other ideas. And so did Madame Pompfrey.

"You are not getting up, young man. You and Mrs. Williams had quite the collision, in fact it wasn't just the two of you!" He had never seen her so flustered. "You somehow managed to work in a bludger, and TWO of the goal hoops!"

"Wicked," Venus piped in, grinning like a mad woman. She was supporting a black eye, a cast on her left hand and a shit eating grin. Apparently the bludger had caught her hand right between the hoop and itself, her head slammed into the metal, she knocked into James who fell off his broom and broke his arm. His bones were mended, but the broken skin from where the bone had gone through was still mending hence the bandage. She happily informed James of this while he glared at her. "And somehow, I still caught the snitch. We lost by ten points though because they deducted some points for something or other."

Madame Pomfrey screeched in horror. "SOMETHING OR OTHER? You two destroyed that hoop, took down Madame Hooch when she came over to help, swore your heads off until Dumbledore had to take points, and then still managed to land a punch on each other when I finally got you in here. You two are such marauders!"

His timing was awful, but somewhere in the back of James' head he made a note of that to mention it to the guys. It was a good name for their friend group, werewolf included.

Sirius couldn't understand how his brother could be such an arse, scaring him like that and taking down a pretty girl with him. Even with a giant bruise turning her face black, she was distracting and he absolutely hated it. Of course most of his feelings were because she was the one girl in the entire school who wasn't swayed by his charm or his name, in fact she loved to inform him that he was an outright git most of the time.

Like now. "Sirius Black if you do not shut your large shit hole, I will personally sew it shut!" She was paler than usual, her dark skin turning an odd color under the lights and her eyes dimmed from their normal intensity. She was miserable and irritated after only a day stuck in a room with James.

Madame Pomfrey had put a silencing charm around their area, so both of them had taken the opportunity to speak freely. "How about you shut yours and leave Sirius alone? He's not here to visit you," James snarled before seeing Sirius blush. "Oh come on, mate." Luckily Venus didn't seem to notice as she had passed out, but James was still awake. "Why her? She hates you."

"That just makes it more fun! Plus its not like I want to marry her, my parents are still selling me to the Carrows, and we're twelve genius. Flirting with her is just practice for when I actually want to date a girl."

"What, you want to date a bloke?" James was still laughing when Sirius tried to smother him with a pillow.