Hey, everyone!

I was so, so, SO happy at all of the reviews I received! How many is that, you ask? Seventeen! It's amazing!

So, I'm wondering if my infectious happy mood leaked into the story a bit.

Well, enjoy the chapter!

And in case you hadn't figured it out... I am continuing this story. And if my schedule loosens a bit I may even tie up some loose strings with some of my posted short stories - like Dear Prongs and Marauder Notes.

Shades of Gray: Year Two

Chapter Seven:

Impressive

by PotterScar

"You did wandless magic."

It was almost midnight. The four Marauders disregarded that they had class the next day as they all sat on Sirius' bed that night.

"It's not like I did it on purpose," Sirius said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"But you did it," James replied, in awe.

"And you're only twelve," Remus added.

"Did you guys see the look on Wilson's face?" Peter piped up.

Sirius frowned slightly. "It isn't that amazing."

James wacked him in the back of the head. Sirius looked over, glaring at him. "What the hell, Potter!"

"Don't be an idiot," James started, "it is amazing! Sirius, you did wandless magic!"

"Thanks for reminding me," his friend said sarcastically. "So, what do you think Wilson's next lesson is going to be? The ten rules of casting Expelliaramus?"

"Professor!" James called out, dashing after McGonagall as she headed to breakfast.

She tried to convince herself not to turn around, but against her better judgement, she paused, letting the second year catch up.

"Can I sign up for Quidditch tryouts?" he asked, smiling hopefully. "Sirius too?"

McGonagall sighed heavily. "Yes, Mr. Potter. What positions?"

"Chaser and Beater. Chaser for me, Beater for Sirius. He's good at hitting things, it's good for his pent up energy – " James ranted.

"Alright, Potter," the professor interrupted. "Now please go to your first class."

"Right, right..." James said, backtracking down the hall and dashing up the stairs. He made it to his Defense class just seconds before Wilson shut the door.

"Close cut, James," Wilson admonished, though there was a slight glint in his eyes. James wondered why he wasn't being formal like the previous day.

"Sorry, sir," James said, making his way up the steps to his seat. Sirius looked questioningly at him, and James muttered, "Quidditch." Sirius nodded in understanding.

Wilson shut the door with a BANG, and the entire class immediately quieted. Silently, he walked to the chalkboard and tapped it once with his wand. The word "BASICS" appeared in big, bold letters.

"Today, we'll be trying our hands at basic spells," he said, turning to face the students. He tapped the board again. "BASICS" was wiped clean and was replaced with the word "Expelliaramus" in smaller letters.

"Miss Black. What does Expelliaramus do?" Wilson asked, turning to face Narcissa.

"Um... it knocks the wand out of the other person's hand," she said, looking bored.

"Correct," the professor nodded. "You saw me perform it on Mr. Black yesterday. Actually... Sirius, do you mind coming up here again?"

Sirius shrugged, getting up and trotting down to the floor. "Back up about ten feet," Wilson said, and Sirius did as he was told. Just as he stopped moving, cushions surrounded him. He had a bad feeling about this.

Wilson, meanwhile, had walked to the board. He tapped the board, and the word "Stupefy" appeared in his bold scrawl.

"Miss Evans, what is Stupefy?" he asked the young redhead.

"It's the spell that knocks your opponent out for anywhere between twenty minutes to three hours," she said, sounding as if she swallowed a textbook.

Wilson smiled in approval. "Very good, Miss Evans," he said, and the Slytherins huffed, comparing Narcissa's response to Lily's.

"Are you ready, Sirius?" he asked Sirius, who blinked at him.

"Ready for what?"

"Stupefy!"

Sirius collapsed into the mountain of pillows, out cold. The Gryffindors gasped and the Slytherins snickered behind their hands.

"Who knows the spell to revive Mr. Black?" Wilson asked the class. Remus' hand shot up into the air. "Mr. Lupin."

"Ennervate," he answered.

"Excellent," Wilson said. He tapped the board, and the word "Ennervate" appeared. "I hope you guys are writing this down."

A flurry of quills were pulled out of bags, though many students looked up with interest when Wilson turned to revive Sirius.

"Ennervate," he said clearly, and Sirius roused slowly. Pushing himself up, he glared at Wilson, muttering thickly under his breath.

"Sorry," the professor shrugged. "Needed an example."

Sirius stood. "Any other spells?" he asked with a sigh.

Wilson half-smiled. "Sorry, Sirius," he said. He tapped the board with his wand, and "Accio" was written. "Mr. Potter, can you tell me what Accio means?"

"It's a summoning spell," he said, and Wilson nodded.

"And how do you summon an item?"

"You say Accio, and then the name of the object you'd like to retrieve. The object comes to you," James replied.

"Accio wand," Wilson said, his wand pointed at Sirius, who wouldn't let his go. "Mr. Black?"

"Just showing the class that you can fight Accio," Sirius said innocently, a hint of a grin on his face. Wilson's face cracked into a smirk as well.

"Clever, Mr. Black," he said, his voice displaying traces of amusement. "He's just shown you my next point. It isn't an incantation, but sheer willpower. If you don't want to let go of your wand... then don't. Sirius, you can go back to your seat."

"You did WHAT?" Sirius asked loudly, alerting the attention of the entire Gryffindor table.

James winced, turning away from his dinner. "I signed you up for Quidditch tryouts."

"WHY?"

"It was sort of an impulse thing. Besides, you'll like it! Just try out!" James said encouragingly, smiling hopefully at his friend, who just glared at him.

"What position?" he finally said, giving in. His friend grinned broadly.

"Beater."

Sirius sighed. "Well... I'll give it a shot."

"Yes!" James said, punching the air. "It'd be so cool if we both made the team!"

"Yeah, yeah," Sirius said, smiling despite himself. "Have a biscuit." He tossed the block of bread at his friend, hitting him in the head. James scowled, but ate it regardless.

Owls swarmed in, delivering mail to the students; forgotten items, letters from home, The Daily Prophet. A package hit Remus neatly in the forehead. Frowning, he tucked it into his robes, ignoring his friends' questions.

"You going to eat your bacon?" Peter asked James squeakily, unaware of the awkward silence.

It was another day of Defense class, a double period. Nothing much happened, besides Wilson reviewing the basic spells from the day before, using Sirius as his dummy once again, not that the young Black particularly minded.

Wilson called Sirius to his desk after class. "First off, Sirius, I'd like to thank you for being so cooperative in my lessons," he began, shuffling through the collected homework.

"Of course, sir," Sirius replied politely.

"And secondly... I imagine you've been wondering about that feat of wandless magic you performed not that long ago."

"Not me so much as my friends, Professor," the student admitted. "They're impressed. I don't really see what the big deal is."

Wilson raised an eyebrow. "Please tell me you're joking, Sirius."

"No, sir."

"Mr. Black, most fully grown wizards cannot perform wandless magic, even with training. You can do it naturally at a young age. How do you explain that?"

Sirius shrugged, at a loss. "I don't know."

Wilson's piercing blue eyes stared into Sirius' grey. "I told Dumbledore."

Sirius blinked. "If you don't mind me asking... why?" he asked the professor, who smiled wryly.

"In this dark age, we need potentially powerful wizards like you. I've seen your marks, not to mention your use of advanced magic in your pranks. The wandless magic only proved to me that you could be something great. I'd like to do some more work with you."

"What do you mean, sir?" Sirius asked, suspicious suddenly. Work?

"Extra training. Only if you agree to it, of course," Wilson amended. "I'll let you think about it. For now..." He scrawled a note. "Give this to Professor McGonagall to excuse your lateness."

Sirius nodded, leaving the room.

"Alright, now, all of you know, of course, that we only need one Beater, one Chaser, and a Keeper," Captain Adrien Wood said, pacing in front of the twenty or so hopefuls standing in front of him. "Don't be too disappointed if you don't make it, alright? Beaters, over there with Lucas Hart. Keepers with Brandon Wheeler. Chasers, stay with me." Adrien pulled out a Quaffle, tossed it to Brandon, and kept another for himself. He tossed several clubs to Lucas, telling him the Bludgers were in the case at his feet. He then led the seven Chaser hopefuls to the other side of the pitch.

"Let's start with your aim, shall we? Everyone up," Adrien said, and James boarded his broom, watching Sirius swing his bat out of the corner of his eye. Grinning, he turned back, hovering in the air with a third year, three fourth years, and two fifth years.

"Alright, just throw the Quaffle through a hoop when it comes to you. Milan, you first," he said, throwing the Quaffle to one of the fourth years.

It came to James fifth. They cycled through several times, with James tying to score the most with a fifth year.

Adrien played Keeper next. He was excellent, blocking most shots, except a few of James' fake-outs that left even the seasoned Chaser, Alex Holstein, in the stands impressed.

"Alright, I'm going to go talk to my Chasers. You can watch the other tryouts while you wait," the Captain said, before jogging over to the stands.

James meandered over to Beater tryouts. Sirius was all over the place, looking as though he was having the time of his life. Lucas was laughing heartily, watching Sirius take out all of his spare energy on any Bludger that came his way – and the most impressive part was he was taking careful aim, only hitting the designated targets.

"Your friend's impressive," Lucas said to James, who grinned and nodded. "Sirius Black, right?"

"Yep," James said, grinning at his friend, who gave a Bludger a good whack towards a hovering bulls-eye. It exploded in a shower of sparks.

Lucas nodded. "Impressive," he repeated.

Meanwhile, Adrien was conferencing with Alex. "What do you think?" he asked the fourth year Chaser.

"Well, I like that fifth year, Hilary Gold."

"So, you thinking her?"

Alex pursed his lips. "No, actually," he said, surprising his captain. "I like James Potter, personally. The kid could turn out to be something impressive. He's already good as is. Those fake outs were excellent. The Slytherins would never see it coming. And besides, he's already bonding with the team." Adrien turned to look where Alex was watching. Lucas Hart and James were standing, talking as they watched one of the Beater hopefuls slam a Bludger into a target.

"So Potter then?"

"If you agree," Alex said, pushing his dark brown locks from his eyes.

"Well, I'll go deliver the news, then," Adrien sighed. "I hate disappointing people, though Potter's going to be pretty overjoyed."

Alex grinned. "We're going to have one hell of a Chaser sector this year," he said, before ambling with Adrien over to the hoops, where the captain blew his whistle. The Chaser hopefuls drifted over to him, James Potter among them.

"First off, I want to say that you all did excellently. Unfortunately, we can only take one Chaser. So, congratulations to James Potter."

James beamed. "Cool, thanks!" he exclaimed, just as Hilary Gold shrieked, "A second year!?!"

"Be glad we didn't choose her," Adrien mumbled to Alex, who nodded.

"Adrien?" asked Lucas. Adrien turned. "Meet your new Beater. Sirius Black."

"Congratulations, you guys!" Remus exclaimed, with Peter nodding fervently.

The foursome were crouched in front of the fire, Sirius and James still elated from tryouts earlier that evening. The drills had ended just in time; sheets of rain were falling from the sky, slapping against the window forbiddingly.

"Thanks, Rem," Sirius said enthusiastically. "And you guys will be at every game."

"Of course," Remus agreed, grinning.

"You're very happy for us," James said, slightly bewildered.

"Well, yes. And now that Sirius is a Beater, he'll have something to take all of his energy out on that isn't named Lupin," Remus said gleefully, grinning.

"I'll name one of the Bludgers after you, mate, not to worry," Sirius replied cheekily, and Remus' face instantly fell.

"You enjoy seeing me suffer."

"I can never get enough of it, mate."

"So, when's the first game?" Peter asked, deciding to stop Sirius and Remus.

"October first," James said, and Remus raised a brow.

"That's less than a month."

"Yes it is," Sirius nodded. "Rem knows his days, how about that..."

"Oh, shut it."

"Congratulations on making the team, Sirius, James," Wilson said in passing to Sirius as Sirius, James, and Remus walked down the hall to lunch. "Have you considered my offer?" The question was directed at Sirius.

"Sorry, Professor, I haven't given it much thought," Sirius replied apologetically, "but I'd like to take it."

Wilson beamed. "Excellent. We'll work out a schedule tomorrow. I want Gryffindor to win the Cup as much as you do, being a former Gryffindor myself; we'll work around practices."

"Thank you, sir. See you tomorrow." Wilson continued down the hall.

"What was that?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sirius shrugged. "Professor Wilson thinks I have potential. He wants to work with me on more advanced stuff."

James frowned slightly, looking away from his two friends.

A little shorter than usual, but I recently made my school's Jazz Band and I have practice in twenty minutes. So, I hoped you enjoyed it; less drama than usual, but...

Next chapter is most likely the Quidditch game. I have some ideas for it, I think you all will like it...

Review review! And thanks for reading.

– PotterScar