Author's Note: So sorry for the very long wait! Life suddenly got very busy, but we've worked out a good system now, so updates should come a lot more often! Let us know what you think of this chapter, if there's too much or too little etc, as we weren't entirely sure about it!

Chapter 6

"Why's everyone gathered around the notice board?" Alice asked as she and Lily climbed through the portrait hole.

"Quidditch trials this Saturday," Marlene informed them, walking over. Rolling her eyes and grinning, she settled into an armchair next to a window. The excitement the try-outs brought to both the younger and older students had always been a source of amusement to her.

"Already? But it's only two days into term!" Lily exclaimed.

"James will have practically a whole new team to train; our seeker, beaters and a chaser left Hogwarts last year! Besides, the other house teams are going to be pretty good this year-Benjy Fenwick is captain of the Hufflepuff team! Though the Slytherins are playing them first- perhaps Finch will knock Fenwick off his broom! Wouldn't be surprised after their row last year over the regulation size Quaffles!"

Alice and Lily both chuckled, Marlene was mad into Quidditch- she played chaser for Gryffindor.

"Will you have to try-out this year?" Lily enquired.

"No, she wont." Came a voice from behind. Lily promptly took out her Charms text book and buried her nose in it. James, seeing this, was about to smirk, but thought the better of it and strolled off saying, "But I'll still expect you to be there McKinnon!"

"All right, Captain!"

"Why does he always have to do that?" Lily said, emerging from her book.

"Do what?" said Marlene, both her and Alice putting on innocent faces.

"Haha, very funny! Where's Mary got to?"

"Don't change the subject, Lily!" Alice chastised her. "Besides, you're Head Girl now, you have to work with the Head Boy- it's your duty!"

Lily scowled.

"It's freezing!" Peter said, pulling his coat around him tightly. It was nine o'clock on Saturday morning and the rather sleepy Marauders were making their way down to the Quidditch pitch to watch the Gryffindor try-outs.

"It is not! Look- the sun is shining and...it's about twenty degrees!" Sirius added, checking the special setting on his gold watch. It had been gift from the Potters for his seventeenth birthday.

"Hey! It says it's twelve degrees!" Peter pointed out, leaning over Sirius' shoulder.

"Close enough! Anyway, even twelve degrees isn't freezing, right Moony?...Moony?"

"What?!" Remus turned his head, looking completely bewildered. "Sorry, I was just thinking about next week."

"What, you and your furry little problem again? Why are you worrying about it? Relax! It'll be fine!" Sirius reassured him. By now, they had arrived at the pitch, which was crowded with students. The sound of excited chatter filled their ears.

"Woah! That's a lot of people! Looks like half of Gryffindor house has turned up!" Remus exclaimed as they seated themselves in the stands.

"Well, there's a lot of places to try-out for," Peter reasoned.

"There's James!" Sirius said, pointing to a figure that had just emerged from the changing rooms.

The Gryffindor Captain strode across the Quidditch pitch, followed in quick succession by Marlene McKinnon and Frank Longbottom.

"Right!" he shouted over the many voices, which stopped abruptly. "We'll begin by sorting you into the various positions you want to try-out for; Beaters to my left, Seekers in the middle and Chasers to my right." There was a few minutes of chaos as the numerous eager students fought their way into the various groups. There were several calls of '-but I want to try out for Beater and Chaser' and '-ouch! That's my foot!', but they were lost in the mayhem.

Behind James, Marlene grinned; her captain had always been excellent at causing maximum confusion at try-outs. She could tell that this year would be no different.

"I don't see why Marlene forces us to come out here each year to watch her stupid Quidditch trials," Mary complained. Being a Muggle-born, her first experience of flying had been in her first year. She still shivered at the memory.

"You know it's what she loves, Mary! Come on, she'd do the same for us, if it was the other way around," Alice said.

"There's no way you'd find me on a broom! Even standing in the wind ruins my hair! Imagine flying. I'd look absolutely- "

"Oh no, here comes trouble!" Lily chuckled, cutting Mary short. Alice and Mary both whipped around. Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black had spotted them from the other side of the pitch, and were walking (rather clumsily in Peter's case), across the stands towards the girls.

"Hello! Fancy meeting you here!" Sirius called.

"Yes, what a... pleasant surprise, if you could call it that," Lily responded, returning her gaze to the Quidditch pitch, where it appeared as though several people had collided in the air.

"Now, now, Evans, there's no need to be unkind,"

"Er- So Remus, I heard you're mother's sick again," Alice said, changing the subject before her friend's temper could rise. Lily turned around to look at Remus. She remembered what Severus had said before, she had dismissed the idea at once, and yet...

"What? Oh, er yes she's been bad all summer," Remus replied somewhat awkwardly. Sirius and Peter shared a glance. How much longer would people believe Moony's story? They had already heard rumours being passed around the school. This year they would have to be very, very careful.