Thanks for reading last time, apologies for a couple of typos I noticed. Enjoy :)

The Problem with Teamwork

The fact that James Potter and Sirius Black were no longer on speaking terms was big news in the school. Very big. Each group of people who heard the news took and reacted to it in a different way, some with voyeuristic glee, and others...well, others weren't taking it so well.

The rain was pounding on the changing room roof, the weather outside reflecting the mood of the team inside. The Gryffindor Quidditch team were all feeling the awkwardness exuding from two of their three Chasers, and every one of them was trying to ignore it in their own way. The two Beaters –third year Jonathon Emerson and his 'mentor', fifth year Ruth Kelly – were swinging about their bats aimlessly, discussing loudly the best way to hit a Bludger away from a team member should the need arise; this being very likely due to their competition today. Finley Russell, their seventh year Keeper, was throwing a Quaffle to Jennifer, who was catching it to throw back only half the time, too busy glaring at James and Sirius alternately. James and Sirius themselves were standing at opposite ends of the room, determinedly not looking at each other. In the centre of the changing room, Mary MacDonald, third Chaser and team captain, was doing little but getting angry.

"Look, you two. I don't give a shit if you hate each other beyond the normal range of human emotion, you are my other Chasers and you need to communicate with me and each other if we're going to win this thing!"

James turned to face her, one eyebrow raised. "I don't need him to win anything," he said smugly.

"You need him if you want to stay on my team, Potter!"

"Come on, Mary, sweetheart, where're you going to find another Chaser with half an hour to the game?"

On the other end of my room, Sirius snorted. "Must be nice," he said loudly to nobody in particular, "To be so confident and so wrong about how irreplaceable you are. I mean, if he was a better Chaser, maybe, but..."

James' wand was pointed in a second, there was a flash, a shout of "Langlock!" and Sirius' tongue was now attached to the roof of his mouth. "That should shut up that ignorant babbling," James said, beaming at the rest of the team.

Just because Sirius couldn't move his tongue, didn't mean he couldn't point his wand. He was getting pretty decent at non-verbal spells. A flash; James' legs were suddenly useless, shaky and jelly-like. He fell to the ground, but not before James pointed his wand again and-

"Enough!" Mary yelled. Finley immediately dropped the Quaffle he was holding, and together he and Jennifer cancelled the spells cast by the two Marauders. "You two are off my team! Get out of here!"

"What?" James and Sirius both demanded while the former scrambled to his feet.

"You can't do that!" Sirius added. "It's his fault, not mine!"

"I don't care who's at fault, Black, take those robes off, you two are banned from my team until I say so. Out. Now."

"Mary," Ruth muttered. "There are twenty minutes until the game starts..."

"Well we need to find subs quickly then, don't we?" Mary rounded on the rest of the team. "Who knows someone who can play?"

The four Gryffindors looked at each other, before Jennifer leapt to her feet. "I know one person. Not brilliant, but an alright flyer. I can go if you want me to...?"

"Get going, Stone. Who else?"

Jennifer didn't stay to find out who was finding the other substitute Chaser. She hurried past Sirius onto the pitch, not stopping to register the almost betrayed look on his face. It wasn't her fault they were behaving like idiots.

Sirius's expression when she left the changing room was nothing to James's when she re-entered. Both boys were changed out of their Quidditch robes now, looking rather mutinous. Next to Jonathon stood a fairly apprehensive looking third year girl who Jennifer recognised as Rosella Steen, wearing red robes which were slightly too big for her. Jennifer had seen her try out; she was a pretty good player for a kid, just not as good as James or Sirius.

The person Jennifer had brought had never tried out, but Jennifer knew for a fact that she was good at flying. And there was that tiny spiteful bit of her that was enjoying James's – and to a lesser extent, Sirius's – expression as she and Lily entered the room.

Mary looked up, nodding approvingly. She, too, had seen Lily fly, and fly well, in their races around the lake in their first year. "Alright, Evans, suit up."

Lily nodded, not looking at either James or Sirius as she walked forward to choose spare robes of approximately her size.

"What the hell, Jennifer?" James demanded. "Since when-"

"You don't get to question my team, Potter," Mary interrupted. "I thought I told you two to get out?"

Grumbling, Sirius and James stalked out of the changing room, pushing each other as they got to the door at the same time.

The team watched them go, before Ruth spoke. "While we all appreciate your sadism, Jen...you'd better be sure about this."

Lily reappeared as if on cue, toting the abandoned Cleansweep of one of the boys. She certainly looked the part, her red hair on the red robes giving her a blazing, dangerous look. "I only agreed to this," she said calmly, "Because that...Avery is on the team."

"Of course you did, my love," Jennifer said cheerfully. "Mary, Lily's ready."

Mary turned from Rosella, who she had been filling in on the game's tactics, to deliver the same speech to Lily. Jennifer glanced at her watch. One minute until game time. This should be interesting.

In the stands, the four Marauders watched as the seven red-robed and seven green-robed players flew onto the field, the commentator announcing all of their names as they flew, his voice quieter than usual over the pounding rain.

"Evans is on my broom," James noted, tightening his hood and sounding surprised and oddly elated. Beside him, Remus struggled not to roll his eyes.

"He'll be sniffing it when he gets it back," Sirius stage-whispered to Peter, who covered his mouth in a vain attempt to stop a laugh getting out.

James twitched. "Hey look, Moony! Regulus Black is flying in a straight line. I suppose at least one of them had to be decent."

"Be quiet, both of you," Remus snapped. "It's bad enough that you've embarrassed yourselves already, will you just shut up and watch the game?"

Sirius and James started immediately yelling their protests, each blaming the other for their suspension from the team, voices getting louder and louder until-

"You guys, Evans just scored," Peter interrupted quietly. "She's actually pretty good."

James abruptly was quiet, suddenly paying abrupt attention to the game, squinting through his water-logged glasses. Usually, Remus would have charmed them for him, but, well, he was irked. Sirius grumbled, but reluctantly turned again to pay attention to the game. He figured that watching the girls weave in and out in the rain was much more interesting than the specky git.

The game, however, went downhill after the good start. Avery whacked in three goals and an admittedly well-played hit by one of the Slytherin beaters had Finley injured enough to have to be sent off. With no Keeper, the Slytherins scored goal after goal, and the Gryffindors were so far behind that catching the Snitch would solve nothing. The rain seemed to get heavier, making Jennifer's job even harder. On the opposite end of the pitch, Regulus was circling as she was, searching for that elusive little metal ball. Mary scored, then Rosella. If the Snitch was caught now, they'd win. Suddenly, they could still do this. Lily took aim, but her shot was blocked by the Keeper, and suddenly Regulus was diving and there was no way that Jennifer could catch up, though she sped towards him – they were going to lose, there was going to be no final – and then a Bludger hit by Jonathon connected with his arm, throwing him off course...and Jennifer's hand closed around it.

It took everyone a few minutes to notice what had happened, but as soon as they did, a cheer went up, rising over the pounding rain as the teams flew towards the ground. Jennifer may have caught the Snitch, but it was third-year Jonathon that was the match's hero. If it hadn't been for him, as the team roared at him in congratulations as they hurried back to the changing rooms, Regulus would have caught the Snitch and it would have been all over.

Entering the changing room, sodden but elated, Jennifer threw her arms around Lily. "You were wonderful, sweetie!" she exclaimed "Mary, sure you don't want to replace Potter permanently?"

"Don't tempt me," Mary shouted over, grinning as she ruffled young Jonathon's hair. The kid was beaming, thrilled with what he'd managed to do. The replacement Chaser, Rosella, was staring at him admiringly, and the rest of the team were amused to notice him blush.

The injured Finley was looking much better. His sprained arm was in a bandage, and he was grinning. "Nice one, guys," he congratulated them. "Maybe I'll actually play in the final against Ravenclaw."

At the mention of the final, a great cheer rose up in the changing room, and Ruth yelled "Party in the Common Room!"

"Showers first, please," Lily said hastily, gaining many laughs and much agreement.

"Nice game, Jen," Sirius's voice said from behind her. The Common Room was filled to bursting point, everyone talking and laughing and congratulating, eating food that had magically appeared from the kitchen. Jennifer and Lily were both being entertained by Peter, who was showing them a Muggle card trick rather unsuccessfully. Jennifer didn't have the heart to tell him that you didn't need a wand for that kind of trick, as she had learned from her Muggle father. Lily was struggling not to laugh. On hearing Sirius's voice, both girls turned, the stern expression on each of their faces matching.

"Peter, why don't you go show Remus your trick?" Jennifer asked him. Taking the hint, he scarpered, although not too far to watch what was happening. "What do you want, Sirius?"

Sirius seemed surprised by the cold reception. "I was just going to ask about our date-what do you want?"

James was approaching from the other side, clearly on his way to congratulate Lily. He glared at Sirius. "I'm just coming to congratulate Lily for clearing up your mess. And ask her if she was interested in joining me on the Hogsmeade weekend."

"My mess? Don't be such a-"

"If you think I'm going anywhere with you, Potter, when you're behaving like such an idiot..."

Sirius started to laugh, but it was abruptly wiped off his face as Jennifer spoke. "Same goes for me, Sirius. I'm not setting foot into Hogsmeade with you. You nearly lost us this game, you and your stupid fighting, both of you."

With that, both girls turned and walked purposely over to talk to Remus, who was patiently explaining to Peter that his card had not, in fact, been the queen of hearts, leaving the two warring boys staring after them, identical expressions on their faces.

"Nice game," Remus greeted them, grinning as they approached.

"Thanks," both girls said automatically, each sitting on an arm of his chair.

"What did you say to them?" Peter asked, nodding in the direction of Sirius and James. "Turned them down?"

"You'd think James would be used to it by now, wouldn't you?" Lily said dryly, earning a grin from all three of them. "You and Sirius are back 'on' then, Jen?"

"Not if he keeps behaving like such an arse, honey," Jennifer replied, fanning herself with a few of Peter's cards.

Remus smiled. "Maybe this'll be the kick they need. I'll talk to them; see if I can't get to the bottom of this. It's crazy."

"Yeah. I'm sick of dealing with their fights in the corridor. I'd do pretty much anything to get them to quit it," Lily sighed, looking wary as the three of them were suddenly smiling at her rather eerily.

"Anything?" Remus repeated, with a glance towards James, who was now moodily mashing up crisps in a bowl to crumbs.

Lily groaned.

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