Chapter 6

"There's our favorite quidditch captain!" Laura laughed as James walked into the changing room, "You hit any more ladies to the ground?"

"You hit a girl?" Marley Bien gasped in her squeaky voice.

"We bumped into each other," James explained with a smile, before anyone could start spreading rumors that the James Potter was no gentleman but a brute, "Where is Sirius?"

"He'll come," Laura assured him, "You know Sirius, he wouldn't even miss quidditch when death eaters were attacking the castle."

"I think he'd rather go kick some death eater asses, if that was the case," Marley giggled, as she tied her long brown hair in a ponytail. Her huge glasses, small and skinny fourth-year body and squeaky voice made her seem the most innocent girl you'd ever meet. But on the field, she was a beast and an amazing chaser as well.

"Probably," Laura grinned, "You can't take that boy from a fight."

"But apparently, you can take him from quidditch training," James said annoyed, "Where the bloody hell is he?"

"I'm sorry I'm late," came the answer from behind James, "I fell asleep and Moony had a hard time waking me up."

He did look as if he'd just woken up from a deep sleep. His hair was messy and there were dark shadows under his eyes. James gestured with his hand that he had to hurry up and took the rest of his team outside to start warming up. Sirius followed quickly and looked slightly more awake when he climbed on his broom.

"Okay!" James yelled, "This is how we're going to play: Laura you remain keeper. Marley and Collin form one team, Tessa and me the other, we all shoot at Laura. Sirius, you're our beater. Sam, you're Marley and Collin's."

"No seeker?" Collin asked.

"Does it look like he still needs to train?" smiled Tessa as a reply.

"No seeker," James confirmed. He grabbed the quaffle and threw it to Laura, who caught it easily. Then, he released the bludgers and got on his broom.

"On my sign!" he yelled and whistled long. Off they were.

Collin and Marley played well together, James noticed, and Tessa was amazing as well. He himself was not the best chaser they could get, but nonetheless they scored nearly as many goals as Collin and Marley did. Which was close to zero, as Laura was the best keeper they'd ever had. Sam was terrific well, but Sirius… Sirius was a bloody disaster today.

He wasn't focused and got his teammates in danger by that. He nearly hit Marley on her head with his bat, and had slammed into Sam once already.

"Sirius!" James yelled angrily as his friend accidently hit a bludger in his face, "Time out!"

He pressed his hands against his nose to stop the bleeding and was afraid his poor nose was swelling already. He was pretty certain that Sirius had broken it and moaned a little in pain as he saw all the blood on his hands.

"You okay?" Sam asked worriedly, "Maybe you should go to Pomfrey's?"

"Wait," Laura said gently, "I can easily fix your nose. Hands away."

James took his hands away from his face and watched Laura's wand as she pointed it to his nose. Then, his nose went warm and cold and the pain was gone. Laura smiled and so did he. She gave another wave at her hand, and James figured she'd cleaned his face as well.

"It doesn't work this way," James sighed, "Sirius, you need to concentrate. You're our star beater but today your work is shitty as hell. What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong," Sirius said angrily, "I'm sorry we can't all be perfect."

"This has nothing to do with being perfect, Sirius," Laura said, "This has to do with you breaking James' nose and slamming into Sam and all. Where's the Sirius we know and love?"

"You don't know anything about me," Sirius snapped, "Just leave me alone."

He turned around and walked away, leaving his team astonished.

"Sirius!" James roared furiously, "Black! Get your ass back here! You can't just leave!"

"Watch me," Sirius howled back. James stood frozen for a second, before he grabbed his wand and ran after him.

"No! James, don't!" Collin yelled. He and Sam each grabbed one of James' arms and the three of them struggled. It lasted a couple of minutes before James gave in and sighed.

"Training is over," he grumbled. He broke free from Collin and Sam's grip and went for the changing room. He quickly changed and didn't wait for anybody else, before he left. Showering would have to wait until after dinner.

He needed to talk to Sirius, but he knew he had to calm down first. If he'd go see Sirius right now, there was a pretty big chance the two friends would get into a fight. They were the hotheaded Marauders. The ones that got into fights over very small things. And they were both extremely on edge.

He walked to the lake and watched over the water for a while. Water had always had a soothing effect on him. When he was younger, he'd run to the river nearby their house when he was angry. There, he'd play until he'd calmed down again. Years later, he still ran to water when he felt like hitting someone to the floor.

James sighed. Life sucked lately. Sirius and he were constantly fighting, he knew that Lily would never love him the way he loved her, he'd served three detentions last week and the quidditch match was going to be a disaster if they were about to play as they did right now.

Merlin, he needed a break. Vacation would come in really nice right now. He needed a break from school and his friends, and Mama Potter's homemade cookies would help him forget all the problems he had. Merlin, he was being a pussy, but he suddenly really missed his mother. Maybe he had to write her. But he had no quill and parchment right here, and he was still carrying his broom and quidditch clothes. So he had to go to their dorm.

Up there, he found Sirius fast asleep on his bed, still in his quidditch outfit. That pissed James off. It really truly did. He hadn't even bothered to change out of the holy clothes into normal ones. That was a sign of disrespect. Great disrespect.

He blow of rage hit him like white hot fire, and his veins burned with sudden hatred, as his heart sank into a black hole and died. He wanted to hit Sirius, hard. He wanted to break his nose and kick him in the ribs until he didn't move anymore. He wanted to make him beg for forgiveness.

He wanted to forgive him.

He wanted to tell him everything would be alright and he would be there for him. He didn't want to hurt him, he only wanted to hurt himself for thinking such awful thoughts. He wanted things to be like last year again. All fun and girls and pranks. Just the four of them. The Marauders together, forever. No arguments, no fights, no pain. Just them.

James grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill. He sighed. Maybe writing his mother wasn't such a brilliant idea. What would he say? Hi mom, Sirius and I are constantly fighting and it's starting to really piss me off. Love, James. PS: I'd love some of your cookies.

Yeah, that would be a really good letter. A masterpiece, really. His mother would only worry and send him a letter thicker than his transfiguration manual. Full of 'good advice' and semi-treatments that he had to make up with Sirius, or else…

"Hi Prongs!" a cheery voice interrupted his thoughts, "And hi Padfoot, who seems to be asleep. Again."

"Hi Wormy," James smiled, "Hi Moony."

"Whom are you writing?" Remus asked.

"My mother," James answered, "But I just decided against writing her when you guys came in… Ready for dinner?"

"Maybe you should shower first," Remus smiled.

"I stink?" James lifted his arm and smelled his armpit. He made a face, "Yup, I do. I'll make it a quick one, promise."

James did make it a quick shower. In fact, in 10 minutes, he was in and out and redressed. He'd even washed his hair and stolen some of Sirius' eau de cologne. Probably to impress Lily.

"Pads!" Remus yelled, "Wake up! Food!"

"Leave me alone," Sirius grunted in response and he tried to cover his head with his pillow.

"I can't have you skipping another meal, mate," Remus said.

"I'm not hungry, I'm just tired," Sirius muffled groan came, "Can't you let a guy sleep in peace?"

Remus and James looked at each other. Remus sighed and gave James a defeated look. James rolled his eyes, "Whatever. Come on, guys. The normal people are going to grab some food."

"How was quidditch practice?" Remus asked on their way to the Great Hall.

"Disastrous," James grumbled, "Truly, I haven't seen such a bad training since our second year. Honest is honest, Travis sucked as a captain. Carine would have made a way better captain."

"It can't have been that bad," Remus said soothingly.

"No?" James looked to his right and yelled: "Collin, how was practice today?"

Collin looked up from the history of magic he was trying to explain to his girlfriend and answered: "No offense James, but it sucked. Bad."

"See?" James asked his friend. Remus smiled and shook his head sympathetically.

"I heard someone is not going to win the quidditch cup this year," came the most annoying voice ever invented from behind the Marauders.

"Shut up, Snivelly," James said annoyed, without even turning around. He was not in the mood.

"Why don't you make me?" Snape asked.

"Why don't you stick your head in a toilet and flush?" came James even more annoyed answer, "Bye, Snivellus."

James and Remus exchanged a look and laughed.