After about an hour of persuasion, Sirius and James had finally convinced enough people to take a break come play Quidditch to have two full teams. It had taken a lot of doing, but now the fourteen Order members, including the four marauders, Stell and her friend Claire, both of whom were on Easter break, and Dorcas Meadowes who insisted that she'd been quite the keeper in her day, marched out of the dismal Order headquarters and up the hill, brooms slung over their shoulders and beat up quaffles under their arms..
Many people, such as Alice Longbottom and Peter, had been rather reluctant to play and James had had to tempt them with a certain juicy secret. Now everyone gathered in a very secluded clearing with soaring pines surrounding it.
"Alright, let's divide into teams. Sirius and I will be captains…" James began, checking to make sure everyone actually had a broomstick.
"Why do you two get to be captains?" Joanna asked indignantly.
"Because we're the best players."
"Excuse me?" Gideon Prewett exclaimed, gesturing to himself and his brother, "You're looking at two of Hogwarts's greatest beaters ever!"
"And I was a pretty good chaser, James! You should know that, I was on your team!" Frank put in.
"Look, why don't we just have the two seekers be captains? That way it'll all be fair," Lily suggested.
"I suppose that's alright," Frank nodded.
"Is that ok with you, Sirius?" James asked.
"Hey mate, I can't complain. If we're on the same team we're sure to win."
"Good. Alright, who can play seeker, besides myself?" James asked doubtfully.
"Alice is alright!" Frank volunteered.
"No I'm not, I'm a disaster. I'll fall off my broom before I even take off. I still don't want to play, but-"
Everyone groaned, if Alice left they'd have uneven teams. "But," Alice continued, holding up a hand, "I will play if James'll tell us his 'juicy gossip'."
"Yeah! That's true! I want to hear it, too!" Benjy exclaimed.
"Me too," Lily said, looking suspiciously at James.
James returned her gaze sheepishly, "Well Sirius, Peter, and Remus already know… And I'm not sure who Lily's told…"
"James!" Lily exclaimed, seeing what he was getting at.
"Hurry up and tell us!" Alice cried.
"Out with it!" Frank called.
"Lily and I… are engaged." The reactions amongst the group were very mixed. Frank, Gideon and Fabian nearly trampled James as they ran to shake his hand and clap him on the back. Benjy jumped up and down with excitement. However, Stell, Joanna, Dorcas and Alice looked rather disappointed.
"What is it with you? I can't believe you didn't tell anyone until today!" Lily chided.
"That's no good! Lily told me the day after you proposed!" Alice protested, annoyed.
"Men!" Dorcas exclaimed, shaking her head.
After much argument, objection, and congratulating, the Order members once more assembled to be split into teams. Claire, it had been discovered, was seeker for Gryffindor now, so she got to be the other team captain.
"Sirius!" James said, and Sirius bounded up to join him.
"Stell!" Claire exclaimed.
"I'm awful! You shouldn't have chosen me just because I'm your best friend!" Stell laughed as she joined Claire.
James surveyed the assembled players thoughtfully, "Lily!"
"I'm terrible! I don't even know what position I play! You shouldn't have chosen me just because I'm your fiancée!"
Everyone laughed, "It's alright, Lilykins! You can be a beater, with me!" Sirius exclaimed, throwing his arm around Lily's neck. Both James and Stell shot him reproachful looks.
"We get the other beaters than," Claire said and Gideon and Fabian joined them.
"Frank!" James called, "I haven't forgotten how good you are!"
"Dorcas," Claire said.
"Good move!" Sirius said, "You don't want to get stuck with Peter!"
"Hey!"
"That means we're stuck with him, though," James said, "Peter, get up here!"
"Only chasers left, than," Stell said. "Choose Remus, we can't have all four of them on one team."
"Oh… tsk, tsk! Bad move! Remus can't play to save his life!" Sirius said. Under Remus's glare he quickly added, "But that's alright because James and I would play for him to save his life."
"Of course we would! I choose… Joanna!" James called.
"Alice!"
"Ha ha! Bad move, I've seen Alice play! We get Benjy!" Sirius exclaimed, earning a clout from Frank.
The teams were horribly matched. Although Gideon and Fabian were superb beaters, the most they could do was knock everyone on the other team out wile they watched Frank score goal after goal. Sirius was alright, he didn't rival the Prewetts, but he managed to keep Frank, Joanna, or Benjy's paths relatively clear, though he couldn't defend all three of them at once. Lily was horrible and she more often than not ended up hitting her own teammates with a bludger or with her bat.
Dorcas wasn't a bad keeper but Frank, Joanna and Benjy were all very good chasers and she couldn't block attacks from all three at once. Also, about halfway through the game Lily accidentally gave Dorcas a bloody nose with her beater's bat. She was momentarily proud of herself, but then upon seeing the damage she had done, dissolved and spent the rest of the game apologizing.
Peter was an awful keeper but Remus and Alice both proved to be absolutely terrible chasers and neither scored any goals at all except for once when Remus accidentally dropped the quaffle on Peters head, causing it to bounce backward through a goalpost. Stell was ok, but every time she managed to get near Peter with the quaffle, Sirius nearly knocked her out with a bludger that Gideon and Fabian would barely manage to stop.
As for seekers, Claire was good, but she was nothing compared to James who was phenomenal. James saw the snitch several times before he actually caught it, letting his team get an even higher score.
The eventual score was a pathetic 250 to 40.
"Well that just about sucked," Stell said, summing it up as they all trouped, muddy and tired, back down the hill.
"No kidding," Sirius said, nodding in agrement.
"What are you talking about? You won!"
"Yeah, well, it was pretty boring playing against such easy competition!"
"Oh, shut up! You're a horrible beater!"
"Am not!"
"Yes you are! You kept missing me!"
"I was doing that on purpose!"
"No you weren't!
"I was!"
"You were?"
"Well, yeah! I didn't want my girl to get brain damage or something!"
Stell laughed as he swung his broom at her. "Well, thanks for not giving me brain damage!" Stell took Sirius's hand warmly, smiling up at him. After a pause she added, "But you're still a horrible beater…"
A/N: I know, it was short and not particularly fantastic. Allwell, the next chapter is better and it's done so hopefully I'll update quickly!