Disclaimer: Strangely I don't imagine myself as a multi millionaire woman.

Hello there! School sucks! Life has been busy as I have my own James and Lily story I'm living right now. I hope it ends better for me…

This year I have exams that teachers have been preparing us for four years. I myself don't know what the big deal is as I have good grades on most of the subjects but my mom thinks I need to take them more seriously. My class schedule is at the same time my mom is at work (she's a teacher herself) so I won't have much free time. And that to a life and…If only I were at Hogwarts… My point is that updates will be twice a week from now unless a miracle happens. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Sorry if you're not a Quidditch fan. I just don't read enough stories with Quidditch action and since I've started the story I've been dieing to make a Quidditch chapter. I hope sport fans will like it.

Chapter twelve: Quidditch practice

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!" Sirius yelled as he ran past the first year Gryffindors, Friday morning. James and Remus were muttering curses under their breaths as well, and the whole group was fuming.

"Five pages on the dangers of Billywigs?" James moaned "Third years have less homework than we have!"

"Add that to thirty inches of parchment on the sound of a Jubberknoll!" Remus replied gritting his teeth.

James looked at Remus "Sorry mate. I pity you. He gave it to you only because you yawned."

"He's got it in for me!" Remus concluded.

James nodded "And it's pretty bad."

Remus groaned "You're no help!"

James sniggered and the duo continued to walk towards their new class in silence.

Ever since the Voldemort attack on those muggles, their defense against the dark arts professor had been very moody. Sometimes he could be seen wearing a large smile on his face and at other times he would dock fifty points because a student looked "up to something". The only thing that hadn't changed was his hatred towards Remus and the boy couldn't pretend anymore that it was just an act. The man clearly hated Remus for reasons both of them knew.

Lunch was quiet on the Gryffindor side of the table. By now, word had spread that James would be participating in the Quidditch practice. Gossipers also included that James had black-mailed Dumbledore with photos of him in a pool to get acceptance.

James, although he seemed confident and optimist at the beginning of the week; was staring at his food clearly refusing to eat a bite. He confessed to Remus that he was afraid that the broom couldn't handle his weight.

"If you were skinnier, the wind would pick you up while you were on your broom." Remus argued.

Lily who was also sitting with them looked up and gave James an assuring smile "I'm sure you'll do well!" she said.

"We'll come watch you if you want." Remus offered.

"NO!" James looked horrified "It's better if no one is looking."

Remus rolled his eyes "Come on, you told me you do this all the time."

"But that was silly Quidditch. We didn't even play by the rules. We threw rocks at each other instead of bludgers."

Lily looked between the two of them "Huh?"

"What?"

"What's a bludger?" Lily asked.

James looked stupefied "You don't know what a bludger is?"

Lily shook her head "I didn't come to the first match because I thought Quidditch is a fancy word for football on a broom."

It was James's turn to look stupid "Huh?"

Remus chuckled "Football is a muggle game. It's played with feet and there aren't any bludgers, snitches or brooms." he explained

"So where's the fun in that?" James asked.

Remus shrugged "I don't know. My mother didn't want me to play either of the games. She thinks it's too dangerous."

"So how is Quidditch played?" Lily asked.

A small grin appeared on James's face and he ran ruffled his hair boyishly. "It's the best! There's a quaffle and three chasers who pass it one to each other. The have to score it through the other team's hoops but they're watched by the keepers whose job is to prevent that from happening. While the chasers do this, there are two beaters who have to whack bludgers at the players to get them out of the game or at the least make them loose their concentration"

Lily shuddered hearing this. While football was dangerous sometimes it certainly didn't have cannonballs out to eliminate the players.

"The last player is the seeker. His job is to catch a very small golden flying ball ending the game and earning the equivalent of fifteen goals for his team. His job is very dangerous because most of the time the entire fate of the game hangs on him so most bludger hits are directed at him."

Lily had a look of pity on her face. She decided that sports were too dangerous for her liking. She didn't even know how to fly for that matter.

James arrived at the Quidditch pitch earlier than he should have. He flew around the pitch for a while feeling the wind touch his face and the amazing feeling of independence running through his body.

His father trained him to fly as a little kid. He heard a story once that he nicked a broom once when he was two and flew around the house on it breaking everything in sight. Though his parents were upset, the amazement that a two year old could hold on to a broom got his forgiveness. Later, when he turned four and became able to understand the people around him, his father had a talk to him and took him flying. First he put James in front of him and while he flew he instructed James what to do. Later, he let James take over the handle and finally, at five years old, he received his first broom and he got the permission to fly without his father guarding him.

James landed his broom on the ground in time to see some people approaching him. His nervousness returned and he felt his heart freeze as he began jittering from the cold. The seven people finally came into view and James recognized the stature of Kingsley in the middle of them. He clutched his broom harder when they looked at him, all wearing smiles. Kingsley was wearing his Quidditch Captain badge that shone bright.

"I see you're here early!" Kingsley said "I just had a talk with the team in the locker room and told them. They didn't sound too convinced you'd be worth the effort" he looked at a tall boy who was sneering at James.

"We have all the people we need. Any extra will bring the team down. Especially a first year!" the boy said.

"That's enough Dawlish!" another boy interrupted. He also had disbelief in his face but at least it wasn't annoyance.

"James is a nice bloke. If you mess with him, you mess with us!" Fabian Prewett added and Gideon, who was beside him nodded.

"All right!" Kingsley said putting a stop to the argument "We'll see soon enough what James can do." He turned to James "I see you already know Fabian and Gideon. This," he pointed at the tall boy "is Michael Dawlish. He's always moody but an excellent Keeper."

Dawlish nodded at James and turned his gaze towards the hoops.

"This is Edgar Bones, he's one of the most brilliant chasers I ever met!"

Bones smiled "I believe you'll be the one to take over after I leave. This is my last year. I hope you'll do an even better job than I did. Kingsley sure told us a lot about you." He shook James's hand

"And here are the rookies" Kingsley said pointing at the last two members. "Frank Longbottom, our seeker and Sturgis Podmore, the third chaser after me."

The one who first took James's defense against Dawlish; Frank, gave a small smile while Podmore was grinning from ear to ear.

"So Edgar leaves next year and he's a chaser. While you look like a seeker, I'm afraid you would have to wait another three years to get that position." Kingsley spoke.

James shrugged "I didn't even want to play seeker in the first place. My eyesight is poor." He pointed at his glasses "Chaser's good for me."

"All right. Now that that's settled, practice can start." Kingsley took an imposing look as if daring anyone to question his abilities as captain "We're eight. Split in two groups, four and four."

Kingsley put his hand on James's shoulder as the Prewett twins, the only other ones who entirely supported James came. The other group was formed by Dawlish, Longbottom, Bones and Podmore.

"Fabian, you're going to be our keeper and Dawlish you'll be keeper for your team. The rest of us play chasers." Then he added in a whisper to James, "We're slightly disadvantaged. Give them all you can!"

James kicked the broom on the ground and soared in the air. His nervousness was slightly less profound now. Kingsley threw the ball in the air and Bones quickly grabbed it. He passed it to Podmore who shakily caught it before it fell. James gained on him and he spotted Kingsley not too far behind him. Podmore, sensing the danger, passed it to Longbottom but Gideon intercepted it and passed it to Kingsley. Kingsley began moving the other direction and the five followed him. Bones was hot on his trail so he passed it to James. James who was not expecting it and let it fall without catching it. Gideon caught it at the last second before Podmore got to it and passed it to James who caught it this time.

He grabbed tight on the ball and maneuvered the broom with his free hand. Halfway to the hoops, he felt the ball slip away and saw Bones winking at him and going the other way, quaffle in hand. James accelerated his broom and took the quaffle while Bones still had it unprotected. He saw Bones looking slightly surprised out of the corner of his eye as he passed it to Kingsley who caught it without much effort. Kingsley got near Dawlish and prepared to shoot. Dawlish however guessed which hoop Kingsley was going to shoot and caught it. He passed it to Longbottom who turned towards the other side of the pitch. He passed it to Bones, Bones to Podmore, Podmore to Bones and Edgar made a spectacular goal at the center hoop.

"Shit!" James heard Kingsley swear.

Fabian gave the ball to Kingsley who took off accelerating immediately. James found it hard to fallow but so were the other four. Kingsley made a back-pass at Gideon at the other side that shot it at the left hoop. Unfortunately, Dawlish caught it again and shared a look with Longbottom. Inspired, James leaped off as Dawlish made the pass. He took hold of the quaffle and turned and shot it the right hoop. Dawlish, taken by surprise didn't defend it this time and James scored.

"Great job!" James heard Bones congratulating him. Kingsley and Gideon were wearing broad smiles and Longbottom and Dawlish looked gob-smacked.

"Right!" Kingsley said making a gesture at Fabian to come "I think we all saw what James is capable of." He looked at Dawlish "As this is his first practice, I can say he's done much better than some of you did."

"Damn right he did!" Bones spoke grinning "I didn't even see him when he tackled me. I guess this is a minus point towards my bragging."

"You were brilliant James!" Fabian said when he was close enough "I watched you from the other end of the pitch. Last year's chaser could barely grab the ball at all. We used him on defense and put him to jump in front of any player that came."

"Thank god that git left." Kingsley said nodding. "Our former captain wasn't in his complete mind. Took to many bludger hits I assume"

All the group's eyes turned to Gideon who put an innocent face. "I swear it was a mistake! It doesn't have anything to do with the twenty galleons he owned me."

"There were twenty five actually!" Fabian added before getting smacked in the head by his brother muttering something about traitors.

"All right you lot, finish this argument so we can continue practice." Kingsley said "Dawlish change places with Longbottom. Gideon you are the other keeper. James, Edgar and Fabian you go with him. I stay with Podmore and Dawlish. Split up and we'll meet you at the center."

Bones nodded and took off with James and the Prewetts behind him. Gideon left for the goal hoops.

"James, are you familiar with the Secret Third Chaser move?" Edgar asked him.

James shook his head having never heard of it.

"Ok, Fabian and I will pass the ball from one another. You stay below us and under no circumstances will you rise up. We're going to distract them and when they corner us, one of us will let the ball fall and you'll come and catch it. Then you'll fly at Frank and score. The kid is spiritual but not much of a keeper."

The other team arrived and Kingsley threw the ball in the air. James wanted to get it but remained still at the last moment. Kingsley saw this and raised his eyebrow. Dawlish caught the ball and left towards Gideon. Bones tackled him and passed the ball to Fabian. Fabian passed it back from under his sleeve. James continued to stay hidden. The duo passed from one another several times. They began making combos finding it more difficult to keep hold of the ball. Dawlish and Podmore were very good players and showed no sign of exhaustion. Kingsley disappeared from James's line of sight and he wondered what he gone of too. Reaching Frank's post, Fabian gave the quaffle to Bones who sent it down while it was still in the air. James turned towards the direction but he saw Kingsley grinning at him holding the ball.

"I saw you hesitate to get the ball when we started. I soon found out why!"

He lazily passed it to Dawlish who caught it and sped of to Gideon. Bones made several attempts of tackling and James tried to intercept it once but at the end Kingsley made a fabulous goal through the center hoop.

After one hour, James had managed to score two goals. Both Kingsley and Fabian had three and Bones had five. The rest scored only one goal. Kingsley then approached them and said they could begin simple passing as the team was worn. However, as passing became boring, they charmed the ball to sprout water every two minutes at the one who caught it. Sturgis Podmore was the first victim, James and Gideon followed. Except for the two star chasers, everybody returned soaking in the castle.

It was already night and James realized he was way past his curfew. The other students had extended permission but he as a first year was expected back earlier. None on them seemed to realize this so they paid no attention.

James quickly changed back into his robes. The weather was chilly and he was freezing having cold water all over him. Kingsley performed a drying spell but he still had goose bumps. They walked into the great hall giving their goodbye to James. James realized with glee that now he had Bones and Sturgis on his side. Only Dawlish and Longbottom remained. Dawlish kept stubbornly reminding him that he was wasting time as he wouldn't play Quidditch at least until next year.

He walked to the fourth floor and took a glance at the closed mirror. He didn't realize he lost contact with the real world until he heard professor Dolohov's angry voice.

"A Gryffindor first year student out of bounds? Potter, detention for you tomorrow at eight in my office. Also Gryffindor looses twenty points because of you!"

James turned his head around so quickly he was afraid he snapped a vein.

"I was at the Quidditch pitch!" he explained.

"I don't care Potter. Curfew is still curfew. Return to your room unless you want Gryffindor to loose anymore points."

James nodded and returned to his dorm. Lily and Remus immediately rushed to him and asked him a whole lot of questions. James tried to answer as good as possible though by the end he told them he marked ten goals and the team wanted to make him captain. Neither of them looked convinced but congratulated him all the same for a good first day beginning. Remus returned to his paper for defense against the dark arts class. Lily mumbled an apology and went up the stairs to do her transfiguration homework. James went up the stairs and saw Sirius putting plain dark robes on. Peter was there as well.

"…it's tonight I tell you." Black tried to convince Peter. "What will we loose if we get caught? We'll say we wanted to join them."

Peter snorted "We'll tell them before or after they Crucio us?" he looked at the door and saw James there. He widened his eyes and put his hands on his mouth as if trying to choke his words back in.

Sirius observed Peter's gesture and stared confused. James let a small cough and Sirius turned and looked at him.

"Hey it's the new Quidditch royalty. I always wondered what bludgers taste like. Could you be kind to give me an explanation Potter?" Sirius taunted.

"Why don't you smell your own breath and just imagine the flavor." James retorted.

Sirius raised his eyebrow "I don't have bad breath!"

James shrugged "Of course you don't."

Sirius frowned and returned to changing his clothes.

"Going somewhere?" James asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I overheard Lucius talking to some big fat kid from Slytherin today about some meeting." Sirius explained.

"And?"

Sirius sighted "You really are thick Potter! Didn't you tell me Voldemort is recruiting from the castle?"

James slapped his forehead "Oh right! So you think tonight they'll meet?"

Sirius nodded as Peter sighed and began changing.

"You shouldn't go." James said suddenly.

Peter's face turned into a smile and looked hopefully at Sirius who looked confused.

"Why?" he asked.

"Dumbledore told me that he'll take care of it. There's nothing we can do at this point. We have to sit around and play with our toys!" James explained annoyed at his headmaster.

"Dumbledore's right!" Peter said.

James glared at Peter "I wanted to say that I'm not going to stay back while Dumbledore has all the fun. I showed you the way to the passage. I'm coming with you."

Sirius looked at James and nodded.

"But Dumbledore got rid of Grindelwald. He knows what he's doing!"

Sirius sighed "That happened long ago. Dumbledore is weaker with each day."

"One fact of the war with Grindelwald was that before he became a dark lord he was a petty thief. Dumbledore worked at the time as a part-time Auror. He caught Grindelwald but he let him go thinking that he deserved a second chance. But because of him almost a hundred people didn't get a second chance." James said.

Sirius had his mouth opened and closed it. He opened it again and looked at James suspiciously "That's right Peter. Some of the victims came from a long line of wizards."

Peter sighed and pulled over his robe. James hastily took some clothes from his trunk and changed. He had a mission to do. If Dumbledore wanted to stay and wait, he would wait alone. He was fed up with his nightmares and capturing Death Eater trainees was the first step to a much peaceful life. He only hoped Dumbledore wouldn't cancel his Occlumency lessons if he found out. He only had one session since school started and Dumbledore told him to wait several weeks until they would meet again.

By the time James opened his curtains, Black and Pettigrew were already looking impatiently at him. They both wore black robes but James chose a more mugglish outfit. He had a dark blue sweater and black jeans.

"How are we going out?" Peter asked hoping for a last chance.

Sirius shrugged and opened the door. He took a box from under his bed and took out two dungbombs. He walked out and several seconds later returned running in the room shutting it behind him. Screams were heard in the entire tower as the dungbombs exploded. Footsteps ascended and dorm rooms were closed. Remus burst in the room red in the face. He took a look at the three of them and raised his eyebrow.

"I should have known!" He muttered towards Sirius.

Sirius grinned "No hard feeling eh, Lupin?"

"What are you planning?" Remus asked James.

"There's a dark wizard conference. We're going to it."

"I'm surprised James, I never took you for a dark wizard."

"We're spying on it!" James explained "Please we don't have much time. I'll explain better tomorrow."

Remus reluctantly nodded.

"C'mon Potter!" Sirius growled.

"Bye!" James said as the trio exited the room.

They descended the stairs and James felt like suffocating. The smell was terrible. It felt like he actually had dung in his mouth and chewed on it. "There goes two of my best dungbombs." Sirius muttered sadly "I kept them since I was five. I think they had a side affect."

"You think?" James sarcastically asked pulling his sweater over his nose.

Sirius put a hand over his nose "Let's get out of here. The faster we get out the less infected our clothes will be."

James let a swear escape his lips hearing this news. He ran out followed by Pettigrew and Black.

"What is that smell?" the fat lady asked them as they got out.

"You smell it too?" Sirius incredulously asked. "But you're a portrait! Blimey, I wonder what would happen if I had kept them another six years."

He was however interrupted in his ramblings as James pulled him away. The fat lady asked them where they were going but received no answer.

They walked in silence through the halls not bumping into anyone. The seventh year's curfew was by now over so they were mostly alone in the castle. They made sure not to bump into Malfoy or any Prefect. They didn't have to worry about Filch as he was probably busy feeding his cat. They arrived at the fifth floor corridor. James led them to the secret door and opened it.

"Won't they try to open it before having their meeting?" Peter asked obviously scared.

"Don't worry Pettigrew. Unless they know from someone there's a door there, you've got nothing to worry about. You need to know about it to open it. And besides, if we leave one door open, the other stays shut. Just be quiet."

Sirius and Peter nodded and followed James down. As they reached the bottom they listened but no sound was coming.

"What's wrong with the door?" Sirius demanded to know.

"They aren't here!" James muttered, fear starting to come to him.

"Don't be ridiculous! Course they're here! He heard them!"

"What if it's a trap?" Peter asked feeling James's fears.

"We're safe here! Right Potter?"

"They might have overheard us or seen us when we came here. The perfect trap!" James realized.

"Shh!" Peter interrupted pointing at the door. Sounds of footsteps were heard and James exhaled breath he didn't know he kept.

"What are they saying?" Sirius annoyingly asked when voices started coming from the other side.

"They can still hear you, you know. Shut up!" James whispered.

Sirius opened his mouth to retort but closed it and pressed his ear at the door. Peter stood motionless in the stairway looking unbelievingly at the both of them.

"When is he coming?" a voice was heard through the door.

"Patience. He'll come when he sees it fit." Lucius Malfoy said.

"This is boring!" the same voice said again.

"Malfoy, why did you bring this buffoon here? He's not trustworthy! He could be a spy." Another voice said.

"He's not smart enough." Malfoy explained.

"He'll say things without thinking!" the voice tried again.

"He'll be on a need to know position. This is just recruiting! The dark lord wants us to finish education so we can advance into higher social positions. We are the sugar of the wizard community after all." Malfoy said.

"Indeed." A new older voice came, the one of the real death eater. "Who is this?" he asked in a demanding voice.

Lucius spoke "John Goyle. He wants to join."

"What will the dark lord have use from him?"

"He's powerful. He has massive force. He lifts three fifth years when he does push-ups. Surely the dark lord will need him."

"YOU DO NOT ASSUME WHAT THE DARK LORD WANTS! ONLY HE CAN MAKE DECISONS!"

"I'm sorry!" Malfoy quickly apologized.

James swallowed air. Every time he had seen Malfoy he had a huge smirk on his face and kept his nose up, a true pure blood maniac. As James heard him now, his voice was trembling and sobbing.

"Crucio!" a voice said and Malfoy's screams started echoing in the halls.

"Let this be a lesson to all of you. While you are in the service of the Dark Lord, you don't assume, you don't make decisions, you don't think!"

"I'm sorry!" Malfoy's whisper was heard.

"I know you are! You are a faithful servant Lucius. However next time I won't be this forgiving. If you were in front of the Dark Lord, he surely would have killed you on the spot."

Paces were heard and James understood the meeting had been canceled. However a silhouette still stood in the hallway moving back and forward. The three sat there frozen not daring to move an inch in fear that they would be heard. After all the students walked off the figure spoke a spell neither of them knew. Two minutes later another figure arrived running.

"What's going on? I heard screams." a stern voice belonging to a woman was heard.

"I'm afraid I got here too late myself." James realized the man's voice had changed.

"I don't like this! Not one bit! There's something going on in this school." the woman's voice said.

"I believe so too! Dumbledore should know about this!" the voice said.

"Let's go tell him now, professor!"

The two sets of feet walked off and James finally breathed normally again. Something was bothering him though and he saw on Sirius's and Peter's face they were thinking about the same thing.

Why had McGonagall called the Death Eater "professor"?