Exams were fast approaching (okay, we had like a month, but try telling that to Remus and Lily), and we were all studying hard. If you can call actually doing our homework for once studying hard.
At last, we got Regulus used to walking and not flying, at least enough so that he would willingly (albeit reluctantly) put on his shoes in the morning. Still, he'd be floating whenever he had the chance.
On the upside, we had a Quidditch game today. Regulus, at the beginning of the year, had become Gryffindor's new seeker (as our previous one had graduated). Today, we'd either win the cup, or we wouldn't. I sincerely hoped we would.
"We are so gonna win today!" Sirius exclaimed giddily, bouncing on his heels like a child on Christmas morning. "And then we'll win the House Cup, too! It's gonna be so awesome!"
"Calm down, Pads," I chuckled. "We haven't won yet."
"Whether we win or not, it'll be fun," declared Regulus, displaying very good sportsmanship.
"But we are going to win," said Sirius, as if daring us to say otherwise. Even if we had wanted to, though, we could have, as Lily, Remus, and Peter sat down at that moment, interrupting the conversation.
"Excited?" asked Lily, leaning into my shoulder.
"Very," I replied, kissing the top of her head. Sirius and Regulus both made nearly identical gagging motions. Lily sent them a scowl, and they quickly stilled, turning red. I laughed. "You two look like twins sometimes."
"Almost," said Sirius. "We're nearly a year apart."
"All three of you are close as triplets," said Lily, smiling. "It's absolutely adorable."
"Adorable?" I spluttered. "I'm nearly an adult! You can't call me adorable! Now, Siri and Reggie, that's another story."
"Hey!" chorused Sirius and Regulus. I sniggered.
"Well," said Remus. "He's kind of right. We're, what, two or three years younger than him and Lily. They both have every right to say things like that."
"I wonder if I'll be declared an adult on my birthday?" I asked curiously. "Wouldn't that be awesome?"
"I doubt it will happen," said Lily. I deflated a bit, but shrugged.
"Haha," said Sirius, and I reached over and whacked him in the back of the head. "Ow! Prongs!"
"Haha," I mimicked. Sirius scowled, and Regulus, Remus, and Peter all laughed. I grinned broadly. "We better get to the pitch; gotta get in some extra practice."
Sirius and Regulus exchanged looks and groaned.
"Welcome to the Gryffindor-Slythering Quidditch Cup game!"
Remus was commentating, of course, and we were eager to play. Flying into the pitch, we were met with enormous cheers from the red and gold side of the crowd. I spotted Lily and Peter jumping up and down eagerly, and Severus next to them, reluctantly wearing my red and gold scarf and clapping.
The Slytherins looked particularly menacing today; I sincerely hoped that they wouldn't try anything. I didn't want Sirius or Regulus to get hurt.
"And they're off- James, sorry, Potter has the Quaffle, he passes to Black, Sirius, I mean. Yes! Sirius scores! 10-0, Gryffindor! Go lions!"
"Lupin! You're supposed to be an unbiased commentator."
"Sorry, Professor. Anyway, Slytherin with the Quaffle- Regulus, watch out for that bludger!"
Regulus swerved narrowly to avoid the bludger. I scowled slightly, but went back to the game as Sirius intercepted the Quaffle.
"Black with the Quaffle- he passes to Potter- urgh, Slytherin intercepts... and I think Regulus has seen the Snitch!"
Sure enough, Regulus had taken off down the pitch, tailed by Slytherin's seeker. Moments later, Regulus flew upward, holding up a fist. I caught a flash of gold, and yelled out in triumph.
"GRFFYNDOR WINS THE CUP! GRYFFINDOR WIN THE CUP!"
I cheered along with the crowd, starting to fly down, when I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my side. Then, I was falling towards the ground. Regulus and Sirius both shot forward, and the crowd went silent. For some reason, I wasn't panicking. Figures. I knew the Slytherins would try something.
Then, everything got weird. Inexplicitly, the air around me started swirling and slowed my decent to a stop, so that I was simply floating in midair with a torrent of wind around me. Regulus gaped, but Sirius looked triumphant. Slowly, I descended to where Lily had rushed out on field.
"What just happened?" she asked faintly. Sirius flew down and hopped off his broom, followed by Regulus. Snape and Peter walked up, and, soon after, Remus came running.
"The air- like it caught you- what the- bloody heck!" he spluttered.
"Why is it that every time something weird happens, one of you three are out the centre of it?" asked Severus, crossing his arms.
"That's what I would like to know," said a new voice, as Professor McGonagall pushed her way through the now-forming, baffled crowd. "Mr. Potter, what did you do?"
"I fell off my broom?" I said cautiously. "And then the air... caught me."
"Ha!" Sirius exclaimed. "You finally admit it! The air did catch you! I knew it all along, didn't I? I told you! Didn't I? Huh?"
"Yes, you told me," I said dryly.
At this point, the shock seemed to have worn off, and everyone started yelling questions.
"How did you do that!?"
"Can you teach me?"
"Me too!"
"Were you controlling the air!?"
"How did you do that!?"
"SHUT UP!" I yelled. Everyone quieted, staring at me imploring me. "I don't know. Now, if you'll leave me be, I'd like to go take a nap in my dorm."
The crowd parted to let me walk off the pitch, followed closely by the rest of the group (Sirius, Regulus, Remus, Peter, Lily, and Severus). Thankfully, we managed to make it to the dorms without further harassment. The moment we were in the dorm, Sirius beamed and pointed at me.
"I was right! You're an elemental!" he declared happily. "The air caught you."
"Just because the air caught me doesn't mean anything," I protested.
"I bet you could catch your hand on fire if you tried," said Sirius cheekily.
I scowled. "If I try and fail, will you leave me alone?"
Sirius nodded, so I held out a hand and, rolling my eyes, tried to imagine it on fire. Mere moments later, flames flared up in my palm and spread around my entire hand. I yelped, and shook my hand, only succeeding in catching Regulus cloak on fire. He quickly discarded his cloak and Peter and Sirius started jumping on it. Lily, Remus, and Snape just gawked.
"My hands on fire," I squeaked.
Sirius looked up from his attempts to put out Regulus's cloak. "Told you so."
Sirius and I were walking in the forest towards the Heart. Sirius thought that Evirah might be able to help me refine my newfound abilities. Frankly, I wished I could just be normal.
"Think of it this way," Snape had said. "You'll be a very formidable force in battle."
So, I'd agreed to train. Which brought me to today: my second week of training with a very old kangaroo man called Tamo, who was, evidently, an elemental himself. Regulus had opted not to come with us this time, but Sirius, who had just recently started training under a sword master at the Heart, had come with me (not that he had much of the choice; he was the only one who could get me there).
"Good morning, young apprentice," greeted Tamo as I arrived. He bowed slightly to Sirius, who, politely, bowed back, before leading me off to the training grounds.
"So..." I said. "What are we working on today?"
In response, Tamo sent a shard of ice flying at me, which I quickly incinerated with a blast of fire. "Reflexes, James. When in battle, you must be quick and light on your feet, else the opponent overcome you. At times, you may be able to use your opponents size against them- but, then, the same may be said for you. Our objective is to make that virtually impossible."
I nodded, and got into a fighting stance. Quick and light on my feet... I could use the air to my advantage, so that I was rarely touching the ground. I could use the earth to my advantage, shifting it under my opponents feet so they couldn't get any traction. This in mind, I made the first move, shifting the dirt beneath Tamo's feet so he stumbled slightly (doesn't sound like much, but it's quite a feat; Tamo never stumbles). He retaliated quickly with two blasts of fire that I sent flying back at him. We continued like this for a while; Tamo nearly caught me off guard when he sent an ice shard followed swiftly by two thin tendrils of water that crept up my legs.
By dinnertime, I was completely exhausted from duelling Tamo all day. Our last duel had ended swiftly when he used the air to sweep me off my feet and into a tree.
"You are learning fast," he noted. "But you lack confidence. Be less unsure of yourself and you will surely win."
"Thank you," I said, bowing slightly. Tamo smiled warmly, and led me back to the village, where Sirius was waiting, nursing a wound on his shoulder.
"He thinks I should learn to dodge more often, rather than jumping in head on," he scowled. I laughed, and Sirius stuck his tongue out at me.
We walked back to the castle, chatting about our lessons, me making fun of Sirius's inability to have any self-preservation, to which he replied that he didn't need any.
We reached the common room to notice that Regulus was nowhere to be found. I wasn't too worried; after all, he had every right to explore the castle and he was probably in the kitchens.
Regulus didn't come to dinner that evening. Sirius and I were pretty worried, considering Regulus never missed a meal. It just didn't make sense. When we got back to the dorm and he wasn't there, either, we were freaking out.
"You think he's sick?" Sirius asked anxiously. "Or hurt?"
"He was fine this morning," said Lily. "Maybe he already ate. Or had a bad day."
"No, if he'd had a bad day, he would have come to us," I said, frowning. "Or, at least, up here."
"Where could he be?" asked Peter.
"Let's see," said Remus, pulling out the map. We huddled around him as he activated it. I crossed my fingers and hoped he'd simply lost track of time in the kitchen. "He's... not anywhere in the castle!"
"Why wouldn't he be in the castle?" I asked, grabbing the map and inspecting it closely. Sure enough, Regulus name wasn't on there.
But Bellatrix's was.
I went pale, and nudged Lily. She looked over my shoulder and paled as well.
"Padfoot, your evil cousin is here," I said, narrowing my eyes.
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"How am I supposed to know?" I asked. "She probably wants to kill you."
Sirius snorted. "Like that's new."
As if on cue, a large owl flew in the room, dropping off a letter with Sirius, before leaving without waiting for a reply. I frowned. Who would be sending Sirius a letter at this hour? Sirius opened the letter and read it, growing pale, before swiftly exiting the room after handing it to me. Confused, I opened the letter.
Sirius Black,
It has come to my attention that you can lead us to the Heart. Of course, I am aware you would never willingly help me. So, I have taken the initiative of kidnapping your younger brother to hold hostage. Come to the place we took your other friend before midnight, or I cannot promise the condition of your brother will be all that healthy.
Sincerely,
Lord Voldemort
I paled. Voldemort had Regulus, and Sirius was going after him. I handed the letter to Lily, before grabbing my invisibility cloak and rushing out of the room.
This was not good.
A/N: Please don't kill me! This idea has been in my brain for a while, now, so... please don't track me down and murder me in my sleep. 'Cause then you'll never know what happens next! Big thanks to my awesome reviewers (who surely won't kill me), N. E. Person, sparkie826, Lady Loophole, jeremiah123, and sk8boards4ever! Er... IF you don't kill me, you get virtual elemental powers for a day! Yay!
Still don't own Harry Potter.