New chapter guys. Really hope you enjoy... Please review and make me smile...

Chapter 31:

Sirius and the three other beaters; Victor Zeledon, a large, muscular third year, Spencer Scholten, Sirius' teammate, and a small, pretty girl, Leona Hunter, made their way over to the other side of the pitch with Rob. Sirius checked out his opponents; he knew Scholten's weaknesses from playing so closely together, he also knew that although Hunter looked like she could be hit off her broom by a small breeze, she was an incredibly capable flyer and not too bad at beating either. He wasn't so sure about Zeledon; something inside him told Sirius that Zeledon was his greatest competition. They quickly began taking it in turns playing with Rob. When it was Sirius' turn, he thought it went well. In Sirius' opinion they worked together well. Sirius had spent the last year watching every match very closely and so he was able to anticipate Calloway's every move.

Nancy sat in the Potters' living room with her siblings. She had just told them the terrible news. Her five year old sister, Cynthia was sat on her lap, crying into her shoulder. "Mummy and Daddy are gone?" Doreen asked. Doreen was ten and so understood more than Cynthia. Nancy nodded sadly. "Really gone? Dead?"

"Yeah," Nancy said quietly.

"Ok," Doreen nodded, tears falling down her face. Mr and Mrs Potter stood in the doorway, witnessing the sad scene with Professor Flitwick, "Let's get you that drink, Filius."

The three adults left the young children in the care of their big sister. They were all crying now, embracing tightly as if they were scared that one of them would be next.

The chasers were all stood in a long line in front of Astrix, "ok everyone, first I want you to just have a bit of a couple of warm up laps – you've been sat down a while." They quickly grabbed their brooms and were off. They were racing one another. There were about twenty of them in total. James' broom was better than most of the others so he had an automatic advantage, not to mention all the practice he had been putting in. James overlapped several of the slower flyers. There were only five others who were successfully keeping up with James. James noticed to his annoyance that one of them was Tom Griffiths; the Gryffindor third year that Evans was dating.

James pulled into land and waited for the others to join him. When they were all back, they saw Cynthia Keeney making notes on her clipboard as Alixate whispered in her ears. James thought to himself, there goes two people. Astrix Alixate smiled at the group, "ok, Etta's going to get in goal and we're going to have a bit of a scoring competition. Best of five, should we say? Off you go!"

James and the others lined up. Cynthia handed them each a quaffle, "I've charmed them to return to you once you've scored – if you don't score you'll have to use a summoning spell."

"Cool," one boy further back said excitedly.

James was at the front of the row and scored easily on his first attempt. He smiled as his quaffle returned to his hand and made his way to the back of the row. He was already winning. Quite a few people missed their first shot. James saw Cynthia making notes in her clipboard and couldn't help but laugh. He thought to himself, I wonder if she has a boyfriend. Soon it was James' turn again. He changed tactics this time and came at the goal from a different angle. Etta misjudged what he was going to do and was unable to save the goal. James watched as Tom Griffiths scored his second goal and made his way to the back of the row. Then a short girl and a boy with ginger hair missed their goals. Then a ridiculously pretty girl with long blonde hair that was getting caught up in the wind scored. James sucked in a breath, that was hot!

When it was James' turn again, he changed tactics again, going for a dive. He easily scored causing Etta to frown at him. James winked at her and made his way towards the back of the line. He saw Astrix giving him the thumbs up from the side of the pitch. James watched as the others tried to score. Quite a lot of them missed, the pretty blonde haired girl scored, as did Griffiths and a really tall sixth year boy who James didn't know by name.

James managed to score all five of his goals. Griffiths missed his last goal but was still doing much better than most of the potentials. The blonde girl had managed to score all five goals. Astrix gathered them all together; "If I call your name then I'm sorry to say you didn't make it…" He read off a ridiculously long list, leaving only six people left; James, Griffiths, the pretty girl, the lanky sixth year, a tiny brunette girl, and a blonde guy that James didn't recognise. "Ok guys, give me two seconds to call over the beaters. Oi ROB!"

Rob and the other beaters flew over to where Astrix was hovering on his broom. "Rob, can you try and defend Etta's goal posts whilst this lot come at her."

"Can do!" Calloway smiled.

"Best of three this time. Off you go!" Astrix told the group.

They quickly made their way up towards the goal posts with their charmed quaffles. James went first again. He made his way across the pitch, somehow dodging a bludger that Calloway sent his way before sending the quaffle through the middle hoop. Griffiths made his way towards the goal, almost getting hit in the face by the bludger before speeding up and scoring. Each of them scored the first try. It was James' turn again. He went at the goal from a different direction this time. Calloway hit the bludger towards him but James did some fancy acrobats to avoid it before zooming towards the goal. The pretty girl was up next, she made her way towards the goal. Calloway hit a bludger at her. It hit her in the arm. She screamed gently. Everyone began to make their way towards her but she quickly carried on. With her good arm she threw the quaffle through one of the goals. Everyone stood amazed. Astrix and Cynthia sat on their brooms talking quietly, Cynthia's clipboard covered in notes. Etta easily saved the lanky sixth year's quaffle before it got too close to the goal and the little brunette's quaffle missed the goal posts completely. James asked the pretty blonde girl; "how's your arm?"

"It'll be fine," she said, smiling gently.

James and the blonde girl each scored their last goal and waited for the others to finish. "You're Potter, the marauder?"

"Yep, that's me," James smiled.

"You've got a bit of a reputation," she laughed, "I'm Renee. Renee Arteage."

"Nice to meet you Renee," James said, offering her his hand. She shook it happily before saying, "I'm in fourth year."

"Cool, I'm second."

"I know."

Astrix called them all over, "right you know the drill if I call your name you're out; Hortense Davis," the tiny brunette flew off the pitch. "er, Chris Ketcham," the blonde guy nodded before walking away. "That leaves four of you. I want you to practice passing with Keeney for the next twenty minutes. Off you go."

They made their way towards the other side of the pitch. Astrix turned to the beaters, "hi guys. We'll let you know the results tomorrow once we've discussed it properly. You can go." The beaters quickly left the pitch. Victor Zeledon said loudly, "in the bag!"

Sirius laughed gently at his arrogance.

"Oi Black what are you laughing at?" Zeledon asked angrily.

"Oh, nothing. You're just awfully full of yourself is all." Sirius replied, before walking away.

James made his way back up to the castle at lunch time after a ridiculously long morning. He found Sirius at the dinner table, "what's got you looking so miserable?"

"Zeledon, arrogant prick!" Sirius replied. "Seems to think, he's got it in the bag."

"Don't worry, you were clearly the better flyer out their today," James replied. "You've got this."

Hope you enjoyed it...

Next chapter...

Nancy will make her decision...

The marauders are going to pull some pranks...

The Slytherins are up to no good...