Chapter 10

A couple of days later, James woke up with a plan. Not a plan to win over Lily's heart, for once, but a plan to make things right with Caroline. He didn't hate her and he felt sorry for her that she was jealous of him. He especially felt sorry for her, when he thought of all the possible girlfriends she could have had. All the girlfriends that fawned over the Marauders.

Remus was awake and reading on his bed. Peter still lay snoring and Sirius had invaded the bathroom again. James decided he'd shower later and that he even had more important things in his mind right now than breakfast. He was about to make two girls really happy. And it would be a completely selfless thing to do.

James grabbed some clothes and ran down the stairs. He crossed Laura and Caroline in the common room and briefly smiled at them. Laura waved and Caroline glared at him. Then, he sped through the portrait hole and down the castle to the Great Hall.

It was quite crowded already, so it was a pain in the ass to find the right girl. He checked the Ravenclaw table triple, and was pretty certain she wasn't there, when he suddenly spotted her. He ran up to her and lightly tapped her shoulder. Several female students gasped in delight when they saw him, but he ignored him.

"What is it, Potter?" Nina Sanders asked in a nice tone.

"I need to talk to you," James said, "Alone."

Nina shrugged and grabbed her stuff. She was a chubby girl, but not ugly. She had a pretty face and brown hair that curled down her shoulders. She had soft eyes and a kind smile. He could see why Caroline liked her.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, a little concerned.

James shook his head, "In contrary."

Nina didn't seem to understand, but followed James nonetheless. He lead her into the library and gave her the first book his hand reached.

"Potions?" asked Nina confused, "What's going on?"

"I…" James thought of a good and convincing lie, "I need your help with it. I know you're really good at it, and I really suck. And… you see… it's kind of embarrassing to ask my friends to explain. So I hoped you wanted to go over some things with me?"

Nina softly laughed, "Of course, silly. You didn't need to kidnap me to get you to explain potions."

"Sorry," James grinned, "I'll quickly go get my stuff. I'll be right back, okay?"

"Sure," Nina said. James turned away from her and ran back to the Gryffindor common room. Lily, Laura and Caroline were sitting around a table, going over some long letter Caroline was writing. Probably a love letter to Nina. He found it very kind of Laura and Lily that they tried to help her.

"Tannys," James was a little out of breath from all the running, "Can you come with me for a moment?"

"Why?" Caroline asked suspicious.

"It's kind of important," James urged. Caroline looked at Laura and Lily. The two of them looked at each other and both shrugged. It wouldn't hurt to listen.

"Yeah?" she asked, when they were far enough from Lily and Laura.

"Can you help me with my potions?" James blurted out, "I really suck and I know you're quite good at it."

"Why me?" she asked, scanning his face, "Why not Lily or Peter? They are way better in potions than I am."

"I know," James smiled, "But asking Peter is kind of embarrassing and Lily doesn't really like me."

"What makes you think I like you?" she asked, poison in her voice.

"You're too kind to hate anyone, Caroline," James answered softly, using her first name on purpose to win her over to his side.

"Well…" she hesitated, "Fine…"

"Thank you so much!" James nearly threw his arms around the smaller girl, "Can you go ahead to the Potions racks in the library? I'll go get the stuff I need some help with and I'll meet you there, okay?"

"Sure…" Caroline slightly smiled and James ran up to his dorm. Not to get his potions books of course, but to get his friends so they could go get some breakfast before classes would start. He felt really pleased with himself that his setup had gone so easily.

"My dearest Marauders," James yelled when he threw open the door. Remus looked up from his book with a slightly annoyed look on his face and Peter left his search for clean underwear for what it was for a moment. James could hear water running in the bathroom, so he guessed Sirius was still showering.

"Are you ready for breakfast?" he asked sweetly. Remus laughed and nodded. Peter asked for five more minutes. James ran over to the bathroom door and knocked on it loudly.

"What now?" Sirius' very annoyed voice came through the door.

"Breakfast," James answered in a singsong voice, "You come?"

"No," Sirius answered, "Not yet. Go on without me, I'll be there in half an hour."

"We don't have half an hour left before classes start," Remus yelled. They could hear Sirius sigh.

"Fine," he yelled back, "I'll come in 20 minutes. Happy now?"

"Very," James grinned. He grabbed his other two friends by their arms and dragged them down the castle towards the Great Hall. It had been long since he'd last felt so happy. Remus noticed the happy bubble around his friend, but just smiled. James had been really stressed lately, with their first quidditch match coming up, sadness over Lily and worries about Sirius.

20 minutes later, Sirius indeed came down and he even ate some breakfast. He ate some toast and yoghurt, and drank some water. James was very pleased that his best friend at least ate something. They didn't spend their morning joking around, as they used to. But Sirius didn't have any outbursts either and classes went by easily. Boring, but easily.

Around lunch, Caroline walked into the Great Hall, looking about as happy as James had done that morning. She had a little hop in her steps and jumped hysterically up and down when she neared Lily and Laura (and the Marauders, who didn't sit too far from the two girls)

"Caro!" Lily yelled, "Where have you been? What happened? Did Potter do something to you? I haven't seen you all morning. You skipped three classes!"

James grinned widely and the other three Marauders looked at him questioningly.

"Potter didn't do anything!" Caroline beamed, "Or wait… he did a lot of things… but nothing bad, this time!"

Caroline waved her hand at her two friends and ran over to the four boys. She squealed happily and threw her arms around James' neck. James patted it lightly, a little flabbergasted.

"Thank you, so much," Caroline whispered, "I just needed that last push in the right direction."

"You're welcome," James smiled.

"However…" Caroline suddenly became serious and a little pissed off again, "Who told you?"

Laura went beet red behind Caroline's back, but the shorter girl didn't notice. James gave her his most surprised, shocked and hurt look he could and said proudly: "No one. It was quite obvious really."

"Really?" Caroline asked, going a little red, "Okay then… Thank you, Potter. It was really kind of you."

"I know," James grinned. They looked at each other and laughed. For the first time in years, Caroline didn't look angrily at him.

"Caroline," Laura whined, "What happened? What did James do?"

Nina Sanders entered the Great Hall as well and Caroline gave another high squeak. Nina ran up to her and grabbed her hand. They looked each other lovingly in the eye and Caroline face Laura and Lily again.

"This is what he did," she answered softly and purred in Nina's neck. Laura and Lily gave high pitched screams and those whose attention wasn't yet on them, now were watching as well. Lily and Laura dove on their dark haired friend and hugged her tightly. Caroline was laughing and Laura looked at James from under Lily's hair. They smiled at each other.

Later that day, when they were out on the quidditch pitch, Laura thanked him for not telling on her. James just shrugged and smiled and urged his teammates to hurry, because they seriously needed to start training. Their first game was coming up in less than two weeks, and James felt that they weren't ready yet. They were good – very good – but not perfect yet.

"Where on earth is Sirius?" James yelled. Every training, these past few weeks, Sirius would burst in right before they went out on the pitch and tell them he'd fallen asleep. But now, his first teammates had already left the dressing room and there was no Sirius to be seen.

They were already training for half an hour, when Sam yelled that Sirius was standing on the grass beneath them. James looked down and saw his friend, but also noticed that he hadn't changed into his quidditch outfit yet. He sighed and flew down.

"We need to talk," was the first – and so far only – thing Sirius said when James had landed.

"We sure do," James answered pissed off, "Why are you so late? And why aren't you redressed yet?"

"I'm quitting," Sirius blurted out. James went very silent for a couple of seconds and thought he hadn't properly heard his friend.

"What?" he asked softly.

"I'm done with quidditch, so I'm quitting," Sirius said, "I'm no longer your beater. You better start looking for someone else."

"I…" James felt panic rise in his chest, "You can't just quit, Sirius. It's less than two weeks until our first match. You know how important the first game of the season is."

"So you're saying that I can't quit?" Sirius asked annoyed, "Watch me."

Sirius turned around and left the pitch. James wanted to call after his friend but couldn't find his voice. This couldn't be happening. This was impossible. Sirius loved quidditch more than anything in the world. Why would he be quitting?

This was happening…

James felt as if he couldn't breathe. It was as if the air he breathed in, didn't reach his longs, but just vanished on its way there. He gasped for short breaths, but even the small bubbles didn't pass the blockade in his windpipe. He shook all over his body and was suddenly on his knees as dizziness took over. He panicked, thinking he was dying.

People were surrounding him all of the sudden, shaking him and yelling his name. Someone yelled to give him some space and someone else clamped a paper bag over his mouth. He had no idea where that bag had suddenly come from, but he guessed that someone had conjured it.

After an eternity, he slowly started to feel slightly better. He noticed it was Laura who was holding the bag (who else?) and that the rest of his teammates were looking at him worriedly. Very worriedly.

"Should we bring him to the hospital wing?" Marley asked.

"James?" Sam called his name and James turned slightly to look at him, "What happened?"

"Sirius just quitted quidditch," James whispered and he closed his eyes to block out all the negativity.

I finished the story while I was on holiday so yay ^^

Okay, reviewers get chapters, so if you want to know how it continues... :p I'm mean ^^