Chapter 41: Challenge
"It was so embarrassing!!" Joey exclaimed as she plopped on her bed, stomach downwards. Joey covered her head with her pillow.
"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Everyone was farting together." Lily said, arranging her bed to make it more comfortable.
"I don't think anyone would remember who farted first or what." Arabella pointed out, opening the window to the maximum for once.
"Let's hope we don't fart tonight. It had been two hours since the farting frenzy started." Samantha said, coming out after her long bath.
"Don't worry, our windows are opened. We can spray some perfume later in any case someone fart." Stefanie said, taking out her Lancôme Miracle perfume.
The five girls had left the Great Hall along with everyone else when people started farting uncontrollably. There was a sudden outburst of farting noises at midnight. The smell of the farts had flooded the whole hall within minutes. Students had rushed out and returned to their respective towers almost immediately. Even back in the common room, the students were still farting away. All the windows were opened to their maximum to allow utmost ventilation. Everyone had returned to his or her respective dormitories when the farting sensation had died down a little.
"I believe someone had drugged the fruit punch with the farting potion." Arabella commented knowingly.
"It's the Marauders. James was giving his usual I-did-something look when I danced with him." Lily said.
"Who else could do something like that??" Stefanie added, preparing to sleep.
"I wonder how long they take to aerate the Great Hall." Joey said.
"We'll see tomorrow. Let's sleep now." Samantha said and they returned to their sleeping positions.
"Good night beauties." Lily said. A few 'good nights' were heard and silence filled the fourth-years dormitory.
"Wasn't our plan brilliant last night??" James said. The Marauders were eating their breakfast together the morning after the Halloween Ball.
"Definitely. Luckily we returned and stayed in our dorm till this morning." Remus added.
"Unfortunately, they had magicked the odor away in the Great Hall." Sirius commented.
"I don't think the aroma of fart is appetizing for breakfast." James commented.
"Well, another detention coming up." Remus said as he noticed Professor McGonagall heading their direction again.
"I bet it's a week."
"I bet it's three days."
"Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew. Detention for a week with Hagrid."
"We can't do it on weekdays nights."
"Your detentions would all be after ten." Professor McGonagall said and she left.
"We could be doing our detentions in the Forest."
"Sounds good."
"How about our research??"
"We can get started on the practical the next weekend."
"At where??"
"The shack of course."
"When is the next full moon??"
"Two weeks time."
"We're finally getting more interesting detentions."
"They're always interesting when we're the one serving it."
"Look at the four Huffies."
"What??"
"They're looking at us." The four of them
turned to look at the four students at the Hufflepuff table.
The eight boys were looking at each other.
Finally the four Hufflepuffs walked over to them.
"Yes??" James asked as the four guys.
"Are you up to a challenge??" Shannon asked.
"What challenge do you have in mind??"
"Challenge in quidditch. I've heard about your skills and we would like to try it."
"Sure. How??"
"One keeper, two chasers and one beater. Four versus four." The Marauders look at each other and nodded.
"Ok, when??"
"One month from today so we could practice."
"You're on."
"Three, two, one!!" Lily and Jennifer shouted together at the grassy area on the quidditch pitch.
Eight brooms rose up into the air. For the Marauders, James was the Keeper, Remus and Arabella as Chasers and Sirius as Beater. For the Flower Boys, Lewell was the Keeper while Shannon and Xavier as Chasers and Malcolm as Beater. Arabella had to replace Peter because he had fell off from the first training and injured his left hand rather badly.
"GO BELL GO!! GO JAMES GO!! GO SIRIUS GO!! GO REMUS GO!!" Lily was cheering at the bottom of the quidditch field.
"F-FOUR!! GO GO GO!!" Jennifer, Shannie, Yvette and Yvonne cheering on for the other team.
There was no commentator for this match because it was non-official. The match ends when either team reach two hundred points.
"Marauders scores!!"
"Go Shannon!!"
"Cheer for the Marauders!!"
"Cheer for F-Four!!"
"Shannon scores!!"
"Great Keeper Lewell!!"
"James better!!"
"Go Sirius!!"
"Malcolm!! Malcolm!! Malcolm!!"
"F-Four scores again!!"
The entire female population in Hogwarts had gathered at the quidditch pitch on the bright sunny Saturday morning. The news of F-Four versus Marauders informal quidditch match had spread around school like wildfire.
"Shannon scores again!!"
"Great Keeper Lewell!!"
"Xavier scores!!"
Within thirty minutes into the game, F-Four had scored a hundred and twenty points while the Marauders only had sixty points.
"James block the Quaffle twice!!"
"Arabella scores!!"
"Remus scores again!!"
"Sirius is taking revenge!!"
"Remus scores!!"
The Marauders were catching up quickly enough. Now they tied at one hundred and fifty points. Fifty points more for any of the team will signify the end of the match.
"GO SHANNON GO!!"
"GO XAVIER GO!!"
"JAMES!!"
"REMUS!!"
"SHANNON SCORES!!"
"REMUS SCORES!!"
"GO MARAUDERS!!"
"ONE MORE FOR F-FOUR!!"
"SIRIUS!! ARABELLA!!"
"GGGOOOOAAALLLL!!!!!!"
The whole stadium erupted into cheers and boos from various female supporters. There were a small fraction of boys in the stadium sat through just to watch the skills of the eight players.
Shannon had just thrown the Quaffle into the hoop and that earned his last ten points. The Marauders lost by a mere twenty points for this match.
"Great Match, guys!!" Andrew, Captain of Gryffindor, had come to cheer the team on.
"Thanks Andrew. But we lost anyway." James said, rather disappointed.
"You guys played really well. They're indeed much stronger and more skillful." Kenneth said.
"They're playing for Hufflepuff this year. It's going to be a tough game." Arabella said. Playing with seven guys had indeed made the game harder and more tiring.
"I'm sure we can do it. We're the Gryffindors!!" Lily said cheerfully and put her hand forward.
"Yes. We can beat them. Just need to train even harder." Stefanie said and put her hand above Lily.
"We'll definitely beat them." James said and put his hand forward.
"C'mon Sirius. It's just a friendly match. We're going to beat them in the actual one." Remus said and put his hand forward to the pile. Sirius grinned and put his right hand on top of the pile.
"We won't lose the next time!!" Arabella said and joined in the hand-stack. Even Peter joined in too.
"That's the spirit of Gryffindor!!" Andrew exclaimed and he put his hand in with Kenneth.
"GO GRYFFINDOR!!" They shouted together.