A/N: I do not own anything Harry Potter.

Chapter 5

Annie, Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys trooped down stairs, brooms and book in hand, and found their parents sitting on the back porch with Bandit sleeping at Lily's feet. They walked out into the yard and kicked off the ground and flew straight into the air while Hermione took a seat next to her parents to watch. Sirius and James both had leapt to their feet, ran to the broom shed and soared out seconds later to join them in their Quidditch match. The teams were fairly even: Annie, Ron, George, and James on one side and Harry, Ginny, Fred, and Sirius on the other. Ron and Sirius took their positions as Keepers for their teams and soon a battle unfolded in midair. Annie caught the Quaffle immediately after it was thrown in the air by Remus and raced toward the makeshift goal hoop being protected by Sirius. She passed it to James just as Ginny came to snatch it out of her hands. James made an impressive pass to George who faked right and came around the left to score on Sirius's goal.

Below, Lily, Meredith, John, Hermione, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sat cheering them on. John turned to Hermione and asked why she hadn't joined them. "Oh, well, I'm not very good at flying and I really prefer staying on the ground, honestly," said Hermione sheepishly. She looked up from her book to watch as Fred attempted a goal on Ron. "Come on, Ron! You can block him!" she shouted.

Remus swore as Fred scored. "I really thought he would have blocked that one," he said.

"Remus whose side are you on?" yelled Sirius from above.

"Neither," he answered. "I'm merely a spectator."

"You're just saying that because you can't decide whose sexy arse you like better, mine or Patfoot's!" yelled James to which Sirius laughed as he blocked Annie's goal.

"Yes, Prongs. You've figured it out. That is exactly the reason," said Remus sarcastically.

Lily laughed. Seeing the three Marauders together again had been such a joyous occasion. They were finally back together and James's mischievous side was making quite the comeback now that Sirius was out of Azkaban. During the whole week that Sirius and Annie had left to live together and finally get to know each other as father and daughter, James had practically been skipping around the house and telling Lily about how things were going to be in the Auror Department now that Sirius would be his partner. Even Remus had taken to a lighter tone in recent days. "Merlin, I feel like I'm sixteen again and James was still trying to impress me with his 'amazing Quidditch skills,'" she said.

"Was James really that bad at that age?" asked Mrs. Weasley laughing.

"I believe the phrase I used was 'arrogant toerag,'" said Lily.

Remus laughed. "Oh, I remember you using more phrases than that, Lil."

"Yeah, like 'giant prat,'" yelled James.

"Or 'bloody git,'" added Sirius.

"'Insensitive jerk.'"

"Or my personal favorite, 'big-headed twit,'" Sirius said. Everyone laughed except for Lily, but a slight smile played on her lips. James, who had been busy laughing at his wife's expense, did not realize where he flying, had flown hard right into Annie. She fell off her broom upon impact and cascaded downwards, landing with a thud on the ground.

Annie's eyes fluttered open. She looked around and saw Sirius sitting in a chair dozing off. He jerked awake and found his daughter staring at him. He smiled. "Morning, kiddo," he said getting out of his chair. She tried to sit up but he pushed her back into the pillows.

"What's going on? Where am I?" she said looking around panicky.

"You fell off your broom yesterday afternoon, you've been out since then," he explained. "You don't remember?"

Annie scrunched up her face in thought. "The last thing I remember is Uncle James flying in my direction but everything past then is fuzzy."

Sirius sighed, concern flooding his face. "Well, first of all, you're going to be okay. You're in St. Mungo's, by the way. Your Aunt Lily rushed you here when she figured she couldn't do anything else without her potions and things. James knocked into you when we were playing Quidditch in the backyard yesterday. You fell off your broom and landed on the ground but you cracked your skull and broke a couple of ribs," he explained.

"So what happened to my broom, I mean, because I need that?" she asked. Fear flooded her face. She loved her broom, and she considered it her pride and joy. James and Lily had gotten her a Nimbus 2000 just like Harry's for Christmas in her first year and she prided it over anything else. In her second year she made the Gryffindor house Quidditch team as a chaser after Alicia Spinnet had graduated. If something had happened to her broom…she didn't even want to think about that right now.

"You are sitting in St. Mungo's with a cracked skull and the only thing you're worried about is your broomstick?" Sirius laughed. "Your broom is fine; Harry managed to catch it before it flew away." He watched as relief filled his daughter's face.

"Good, because I need that," she said. "What happened after Aunt Lily took me here?"

"Well, I rushed here with Lily, James panicked, he kept thinking he killed you, Remus and Harry made sure everyone got home safely and then came here with James. They're in the waiting room if you want to see them." Annie nodded and he kissed the top of her head. He left the room and returned a few minutes later with a sleepy looking Harry, a pale Remus, an anxious Lily, and James who stopped in the doorway too afraid to take one step further.

"Are you okay, sweetie? I promise you're in good hands here, I went to Hogwarts with the Healer in charge of this ward," Lily explained. She took her niece's hand and kissed her head.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little dizzy, but I'm fine," Annie answered. "Thanks for getting my broom Harry," she added.

"No problem. So, how many head injuries does this make for you now?" Harry asked with a smile.

"Four," she said simply. "I think. I don't really remember the details of them though."

Sirius looked aghast. "Four? You've had four head injuries? What the bloody hell happened that I wasn't told about any of this?" He looked toward Lily as James was still standing in his place at the door.

"They weren't that bad, Sirius," said Lily. "Madame Pomfrey had her all fixed up in no time although she still had to stay in the hospital wing for a couple of days."

"Yeah, really they weren't that bad," said Annie. "Let's see, the first happened in second year when I took a bludger to the face during practice, the second one happened in the Chamber of Secrets after a couple of rocks hit me on the head. I got a bloody skull and a concussion after that one," she ticked them off on her fingers. "And the third one happened last year when Malfoy aimed a curse at me from behind and I fell down the stairs. I cracked my skull with that one too, I think." she said. "Like I said, I don't really remember details, this is just what Harry and Hermione and Ron and everyone else have told me. Am I right, Harry?" Harry nodded.

"Why didn't' you tell me about them, Prongs?" he said looking at his best friend and taking Annie's other hand.

James opened his mouth to say something but it was Annie who answered. "I told him not to. I didn't want you to worry about me while you were, well, you know," she said, her eyes downcast.

Sirius looked at his daughter and then gathered her in a hug. "Thank you for worrying about me," he said.

When he let go Annie smiled and looked towards James. "Are you going to stand there all day, Uncle Prongs, or am I going to have to get up and go to you?" she said.

"Erm, I don't think it's such a good idea to near you right now," he said shuffling his feet.

"I have to do everything," she said pushing the blanket off her legs. She tried to swing her feet off the bed but both Lily and Sirius pushed her back down before she could get up. "Fine, I'll stay here. I was dizzy anyway," she muttered.

Remus and Harry laughed. "Come on, James. What could you possibly do to her while she's sitting in that bed?" Remus asked.

"Please, Uncle James? I won't bite. Moony might, but I won't," she said with an impish grin and a wink toward Remus.

James laughed. "Okay, fine. I'll come over." James walked over, cautiously. When he reached the bed, Annie put out her arms and gave him a hug around the neck. Then all of a sudden, her eyes closed, her grip slackened and she slumped against his shoulder. "Annie? Annie, are you alright?" James placed her gently against her pillows and looked at her worried. "I broke her again!" he cried and ran from the ward. Lily followed him out. As soon as Lily's robes whipped around the corner, Annie's eyes snapped open.

"So, how long will it take for him to figure out I was faking, do you reckon?" she said smiling up at Sirius.

Sirius laughed. "Annie Black, you are going to be quite the handful aren't you?"