"JAMES! JAMES, QUIDDITCH! GET UP, QUIDDITCH!" I groaned, and turned over to glare at Sirius. It should be illegal for someone to be screaming this early in the morning.

"Go to sleep, Sirius," I muttered. "It's too early."

"No it isn't!" Sirius replied eagerly, oblivious to Remus's death glare. "It's six!"

I moaned, and rolled back over, pulling the covers over my head. "Sleep, Sirius."

I was reward with a thorough soaking.

"Sirius!" I exclaimed, throwing my covers back. Sirius just grinned at me, before rushing to Peter's bed, undoubtably to soak him as well. I sighed, and, seeing no other choice, climbed wearily out of bed. "We really need to find a way to prevent that."

"I wonder if we could get a restraining order from four to eight in the mornings," Remus mused. I laughed, and nodded. "Or, better yet, trap him in his bed until nine!"

"That," I grinned deviously. "Sounds like a plan."

"What sounds like a plan?" asked Sirius, bouncing on his heels. "Oh! By the way, James, I found your secret stash of candy!"

"Oh bloody heck," I muttered. "Can this morning get any better?"

"Lily! I'll go get Lily!" Sirius volunteered, racing out of the room. Remus chuckled, and rolled his eyes.

"Does he know that boys can't get up to the girls' dorms?"

Remus grinned evilly.

"No. No he does not."

"You're up early," Lily noted, sitting beside me on the couch in the common room. "I'm going to take a wild guess, based on your hair, and say Sirius?"

"Yes, bloody git," I replied irately. "He's great and all, but, really, it's inhuman how early he gets up!"

"Where is he, anyways?" Lily asked, looking around the mostly empty common room. "I don't see him anywhere-"

As if on cue, Sirius came racing into the common room, holding both of our brooms. "JAMES! We gotta go practice! We've gotta win against the Slytherins- I just heard, Regulus made Seeker!"

"Yes, I know," I replied. "He told me a bit ago."

Sirius pouted slightly, obviously put out that Regulus had told me first instead of him. But he brightened immediately. "Well, we have to win, or Reggie'll never let me live it down!"

"It's just a game," Lily chuckled, and both Sirius and I turned to her, eyes wide in horror.

"Just a game!?" I repeated incredulously. "Lily, it's Quidditch! It's an art form-"

"A way of life-"

"The very air we breathe!"

"The-"

"Alright," said Lily, raising an eyebrow. "I get it. You like your Quidditch." She then smiled at me, lowering her voice. "Still, it's good to see you so happy, James."

"It's Quidditch," I reiterated. "It makes everything better!"

"Exactly," Sirius beamed. "It's the best sport in the world! What would we be without it?"

"A lot calmer, for one thing," Lily answered, pulling out a Muggle book. "Well, you two go do your little loop-de-loops and other little tricks. I'll see you later, James, okay?"

"Right on, Lils!" I replied happily. "Come on Sirius, let's go practice! We definitely have to beat the Slytherins! Race ya!"

"Hello, Hogwarts! Welcome to the first Quidditch game of the season!" I grinned as I walked out onto the field beside Sirius, and shot Regulus a friendly smile, which he returned happily. Remus was commentating- we'd made sure to give him plenty of chocolate, just to make things interesting.

"I want a fair game, you lot," Madam Hooch ordered. "Mount your brooms… and go!"

"And, Yaxley with the Quaffle- no, would you look at that! Black's intercepted! Gryffindor has the Quaffle! Black passes to Potter- Potter shoots- SCORE! Ten-zero to Gryffindor! Take that!"

I chuckled as McGonagall yelled out, "Lupin!"

"Sorry, Professor! And Malfoy has the Quaffle- woah-" I ducked as a Bludger flew straight over my head. "PENALTY! PENALTY!"

Madam Hooch blew her whistle. I flew forward to take the penalty shot.

"Potter goes forward for the penalty shot- he shoots- and YES! JAMES SCORES! TAKE THAT YOU LOUSY CHEATERS!"

"LUPIN!"

"Sorry, Professor. Now, let's continue, since James seems to be fine after that obvious attempt to take his head off-"

I rolled my eyes. Okay, so maybe we gave him too much chocolate…

"Lupin!"

"Sorry, Professor. Anyways, McKinnon has the Quaffle, she passes to Black- whoa! Sirius, look out for that Bludger!" I winced at a Gideon Prewitt whacked a Bludger away only seconds before it would have hit Sirius. "Okay, Gideon's got it. Oh! And Black- Regulus, that is- has seen the Snitch! Black scores! Thirty-zero, Gryffindor! And, looks like Black has lost the Snitch. Yaxley has the Quaffle again- he shoots! YES! Great block, Frank!"

I gave Frank a large grin, as Frank passed Sirius the Quaffle.

"Lupin, please refrain from being biased!"

"Sorry, Professor. Black's got the Quaffle, again. He passes to Potter- oi, Malfoy, get off James's tail! Potter shoots- ugh, Lestrange blocks it. Well, good shot, James. And- woah! Nice one, Prewitt brothers! That was close! Regulus has seen the Snitch- Amy White is fast on his trail- and! YES! YES! White has the Snitch! White has the Snitch! Gryffindor wins! GRYFFINDOR WINS!"

I cheered as loudly as the rest of our team, and we all landed, hoisting Amy up on our shoulders. Sirius beamed at me, and I happily returned the grin.

"GRYFFINDOR, GRYFFINDOR!" we shouted, as the rest of our house poured out of the stands to greet us. I took the distraction to go over to Regulus.

"Hey, Reg," I grinned, holding out my hand. "Good game!"

"Good game," Regulus repeated, smiling despite himself, before laughing. "I haven't seen you this happy in forever!"

"It's Quidditch! What's not to be happy about!?" I beamed. Lily walked over with Snape, who nodded at me. "Hey Lils, Snape."

"Remus sure is some commentator!" Lily chuckled. "I had forgotten!"

"Me too," I agreed. "Plus, we gave him chocolate before the game. Surefire way to get him going!"

"I'll say," Regulus nodded. 'Hey, uh, so how's Sirius?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" I suggested, gesturing towards Sirius, who was jumping up and down, cheering with Remus and Peter and the rest of the Gryffindors.

"I dunno… I don't think he likes me much," Regulus said awkwardly. I laughed, and shook my head.

"You don't think Sirius likes you much," I repeated. "But Sirius doesn't think you like him!"

"Oh," Realization dawned in Regulus's eyes. "I thought he hated me, I never thought he thought I didn't like him! Yeah. I will go talk to him!"

With that, Regulus walked courageously towards his brother. I watched for a moment as they started talking, before turning back to Lily and Snape.

"How have you been?" I asked Snape politely. "Haven't seen you much lately."

"I've been fine," Snape replied stiffly. "And you?"

"Better than ever," I declared, sneaking a glance at Sirius, who was animatedly chatting with his brother and very much alive. "Now, is there a reason you don't play Quidditch?"

"Things get far too violent for my tastes," Snape answered, eying me suspiciously. "I suppose you like the excitement, though, Potter?"

"The excitement of Quidditch? Yes, absolutely," I beamed. "As Sirius so nicely put it, it isn't just a sport! It's a way of life!"

Snape rolled his eyes, but there was a hint of a smile on his face.

"I guess it'd be dumb to invite you the Gryffindor victory party, huh?" Lily smiled.

"Obviously," Snape replied, raising an eyebrow. "Since I am a Slytherin."

"And you don't like Quidditch," I added, shaking my head. "How anyone can not like Quidditch is beyond me."

"JAMES!" I sidestepped towards Snape as Sirius came barreling towards us. Sure enough, he ran right to the spot I'd been standing before, dragging Regulus along by the arm. "James! We gotta go get the stuff for the party- Reggie's gonna help, right Reg? Oh! Hi, Lily! Anyways, James, you coming? I doubt Hogsmeade will be too busy, but bring the Cloak- hey why are you hanging out with Sni- er, Snape?"

"Because I want to, why else?" I answered. Sirius gave me a dumbfounded look, before shaking his head and grinning. "Well, if we must. I'll see you two later, kay? And, Sirius, let go of your brother, you're going to rip his arm out."

"Wow!" Regulus whispered, as Sirius opened the passageway to Honeyduke's. "Wicked!"

"Shh- just because we're invisible, doesn't mean we can talk!" I hissed, and we all squeezed into the passageway. "Your brother learned that the hard way."

"We agreed not to talk about that," Sirius blushed- well, I think he did. It was too dark to tell. I pulled out my wand, muttering, "Lumos!"

The tunnel was illuminated.

"And you're sure the Honeyduke's people won't rat us out?" Regulus asked anxiously. "I can't get in trouble! Mum will be so mad- and Sirius! You really, really can't get into trouble!"

"Relax, Reg," Sirius said easily. "Even if we do get caught, Mother and Father won't blame you. They'll blame me for 'corrupting you'. You'll be fine."

"What about you?" Regulus whimpered.

"If Sirius gets in trouble with his parents, he can always come to my place," I said, suddenly hoping desperately that we didn't get caught. Regulus sounded pretty scared of what his parents would do to Sirius. "And he will come to my place, right?"

"Sure thing, Jamie!" Sirius replied cheerfully. "Oh! We're here!"

We climbed out into the Hogsmeade cellar quietly, before quickly getting out of the shop and taking off the cloak. Then, we walked around front, and casually walked in the building again.

"Okay, what do you think? Definitely the Levitating Chocoballs," Sirius exclaimed, grabbing several of the candies. "Ooh, James, you think Moony'd like Blood Pops?"

"He's not a vampire, Padfoot," I chuckled. "Nah, but get him some more chocolate bars."

"Oh, yeah, we used up all of his chocolate this morning!" Sirius winced, before grabbing twenty different chocolate bars. "Yes, best to get him more before he kills us…"

"You guys' nicknames don't make sense," Regulus declared. "Well- Sirius, maybe, because he's named after the Dog Star. But the rest don't make any sense."

"Ah, yes, dear brother, but that's the point," Sirius beamed. "Outsiders aren't supposed to get it, right, Prongs?"

"Absolutely, Padfoot," I nodded seriously. "Perhaps one day you'll understand. Until then, it remains one of the many mysteries of this world."

"You're in a really good mood today, mate!" Sirius laughed happily. "You haven't been this happy since… well, a month ago!"

"What can I say? It's Quidditch!" I replied. "Anyways, Reg, who are you lot playing next?"

"Ravenclaw, I think," Regulus mused, grabbing a handful of chocolate frogs. "And you guys play Hufflepuff."

"Thank goodness Amos Diggory graduated!" Sirius exclaimed. "It's almost impossible to score past him! Wonder who the Keeper is now?"

"Hopefully some second year," I glanced towards Regulus. "No offense, you're great!"

"None taken," Regulus snickered. "I agree; I've seen Diggory play, and let me tell you, I don't want my team playing against him."

"Let's pay for this and go to Zonko's!" Sirius decided, grabbing the things Regulus and I had picked up and rushing to the counter. I exchanged an amused look with Regulus, before Sirius rushed back over, and pulled us both out of the shop.

Hogsmeade was as busy as ever, and with the holidays coming up, people were bustling around buying gifts. I'd have to do that soon, but I'd probably wait for the official Hogsmeade trip.

"Crud!" Sirius exclaimed suddenly, nearly dropping the candy he was holding. I glanced to where he was looking, and swore under my breath. McGonagall was at Hogsmeade! "This way, come on!"

Sirius pulled Regulus and I into a conveniently placed alley near Zonko's. It was dark, and McGonagall wouldn't see us. I glanced around, before immediately recognizing my surroundings.

"Crucio! Sectumsempra!"

"Stop, please, you'll kill him!"

"Ickle Potter's worried about you, cousin!"

"Stop, please, leave him alone!"

"I'm sorry, Jamie…"

"Hold on, hold on, please!"

"Thank you…"

"NOOO!"

The world went black.

A/N: Okay! Mostly happy chapter- for once. O.o Poor Jamie- but, hey! They won the Quidditch game! Quidditch makes everything better. Thanks to potterhead934, krikanalo, Eliza272, Theta-McBride, N.E. Person, and peevesisawesome for your reviews! Virtual Moony plushies! XD Hope you enjoyed this chapter!