A/N: Apologies for the slow update for those of you who are following. I've been busy writing a few chapters in my 'real life'! But here we go again in our wonderful world of fantasy... Enjoy :)

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Chapter 20 - Quarrels and Quaffles

Over the days and weeks that followed, James noticed something different about Remus. He seemed more… himself. There was really no other way to say it. He laughed more easily at their jokes and made more of his own suggestions as to things they could do. He delighted them all by launching a raid on the kitchens one day. Well, he popped in there to politely ask for a pot of tea and a plate of biscuits, but still, it was a start.

James and the others were all keen to support him in whatever ways they could. They carried his heavy book bag for him in the days after the transformation, made careful notes for him in class and took no time in hexing any Slytherins who dared poke fun at his peaky appearance.

In the weeks that led up to the match against Hufflepuff however, the attention James could give to his friend's monthly struggles was limited. While Sirius pursued the case with dogged determination (James wondered if it was a blessed relief for him to have somewhere to focus his energies with their DADA professor tormenting him daily), James was more often than not a little more preoccupied.

He was determined to prove himself in the upcoming match. It would be the first he'd be playing as new chaser and he wanted to leave absolutely nothing to chance. He knew he was good, but he wanted everyone else to see he was good too. He was sure that a clear defeat against Hufflepuff would do just the trick. They'd all know his name soon enough…

"You, James Potter, are quite the most insufferable git I've had the misfortune to know." Sirius said after James was foolish enough to voice some of his thoughts out loud one evening.

"I'm not that insufferable." James said, feeling stung. "I just want to be recognised for my excellent flying ability."

"That's exactly my point." Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "You want to be recognised. You don't give a flying bludger about the rest of the team."

"Well what's wrong with that?" James said crossly. "And as a matter of fact I care deeply about flying bludgers. I think any quidditch player would."

"Oh forget it." Sirius said irritably, going back to his crossword. "I just think it's a shame you're more interested in your own personal glory than in helping me figure out how to help Remus with his monthlies."

"Please don't call them that." Peter said emphatically from his place by the fire. "My sisters call… something else that." And he gave a little shudder.

"Fine, his furry little problem then." Sirius said irritably. "Better?"

"I don't know why you're being like this." James said to Sirius. "I care about Remus just as much as you do. Where are the genius solutions you've come up with to help exactly?"

"You can't just expect genius solutions to fall into your lap Potter. You've got to work for them. Or maybe that's an alien concept to you. I suppose growing up the way you have everything has just fallen into your lap." He seemed unable to disguise the bitterness in his voice.

"Well I'm sorry you feel that way." James said. "And yes, maybe things were different for me, we can't all be blessed with a brother, but at least I'm not the one obsessing over things I can't change and actually getting on with my life."

"You do have a brother." Sirius told him through gritted teeth. "You've got Remus. And when you finally pull your swollen head out of the quidditch hoops and realise that, let Peter know, because Merlin knows I'm sick of you." And he threw down the paper, stormed out of the common room and slammed the portrait door behind him.

James turned to Peter incredulously. "What do you think about that?!"

Peter shrugged. "I dunno. But I don't think it's possible to get your head stuck in a quidditch hoop, however big it gets."

James ignored Sirius all throughout the rest of the day and all the next day too. If his friend didn't want to talk to him, James wasn't going to force him. This turned out to be quite easy to do. When he wasn't practicing quidditch, he was working on perfecting his form, or else talking to captain Freddie Johnson about his form.

He also found himself to be the subject of a great deal of interest among the student population, predominantly girls. They would all try and sit next to him at meal times (even if they weren't in Gryffindor - causing aggravation from the staff who were obliged to chivvy them back to their own house tables), follow him down the corridor between lessons or hang around giggling as he worked in the library.

On one such occasion, Faith Rowle of Slytherin was so furious that Sara Cheshire of Hufflepuff had been spoken to by James (in truth, he'd just told her the time), that she cast a hair severing charm on the girl, leading her to burst into tears and run out of the library. "Well he won't fancy her anymore." She was heard to say.

Between quidditch and the constant attention he was receiving, it was really very hard to focus on anything else. His mind wandered more and more in class and he was prone to doodling more than usual too. He was just sketching out a quidditch formation they had rehearsed the previous night in training when the parchment was snatched up from his desk. He looked up to find Professor Yaxley looking at it and frowning.

"Quidditch." He spat, correctly identifying James' sketch. "Tell me Potter, is quidditch the sum total of your life ambitions or is there anything else that interests you beyond chasing bludgers round the sky?"

James had been just about to correct him on his use of quidditch terminology, when Sirius' voice piped up from two desks away (where he'd been sitting by Remus). "Better famous for being a quidditch star than for writing a book on pureblood elitism. Or for cursing people, for that matter." He added sharply.

James stared at him. How could Sirius possibly be defending him? And over quidditch too? His friend's loyalty (and bravery) truly knew no bounds.

"Shut up." Yaxley spat at him. "I did not ask your opinion. In fact, I probably never will, given how insufferable and arrogant I find you. You know, your mother really was right about you. You certainly are the most insolent, interfering…"

"Stop it!"

James spun around. Lily Evans was on her feet. She had her hands on her hips and was glaring at the teacher, her red hair seeming to crackle with anger.

"Miss Evans! Sit down at once."

"I will not." Lily said. "You're not being fair. He's not done anything wrong, he was just defending his friend. It's not fair the way you treat him."

James looked back at the teacher, waiting for the inevitable explosion.

The Professor had gone white and his lips were very thin. "Detention." He snapped. "And if you don't sit down right now I will make it a week's worth."

Lily did so. Yaxley glared from her to Sirius. "I don't know what it is about this class that makes them think they have to question me on absolutely everything." He slammed his wand down onto his desk to emphasise the words. "But it stops right now. Anyone who objects to the way I teach can go and speak to the headmaster. And make sure you tell him exactly what you did to incur my wrath in the first place. Now, if Potter, Black and Evans will be kind enough to shut up and pay attention, we will continue with the lesson." He began to lecture in graphic detail on a curse that caused the victim's insides to shrivel and be regurgitated out through their mouth. Mary didn't make it to the bathroom before she was sick this time. She ran to the bathroom, hands over her face, and Sylvie, whose shoes had been showered with flecks of sick, ran after her.

James caught up with Sirius after the lesson had ended. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Sirius said "hey, thanks Evans."

Lily was walking past with her friends. She turned to Sirius, looking a little startled but she smiled nonetheless. "Oh. It's ok." She said, tossing her red hair back over her shoulder. "I was just doing what any decent person would do." She smiled vaguely at him and walked off, her friends shooting curious glances back over their shoulders as they went.

"See? Evans gets it." Sirius said and, throwing his bag over his shoulder, he walked off too.

"Oh ha ha." James called after him. "Nice one mate. Way to make a point you -"

He was interrupted by a firm hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Yaxley, also frowning down the corridor after Sirius. "You want to be careful Potter." He said coldly. "You don't want to end up the same sticky way he's going."

James shook his hand off and glared up at him. "Actually, he's my friend. And Evans is right, you're a total git for the way you treat him. Feel free to put me in detention too." And ignoring the teacher's furious shouts after him, he stormed off down the corridor too.

He was distracted all through quidditch practice that afternoon. He mis-passed the quaffle to Marcus Summers and his mind was so preoccupied that he totally missed Gregor Llewelyn trying to cross pass to him. The scarlet ball bounced off his glasses and he had to dive to retrieve it, shouting apologies to his teammates as he went.

He arrived back in the common room, exhausted, to find Remus by the fire, working on the crossword Sirius had abandoned earlier.

"Good practice?" His friend asked, looking up.

"No it was lousy." James said, throwing himself into an armchair and kicking off his shoes.

Remus was watching him. It was a knowing, thoughtful, Remus look. What wise insight was he going to share this time?

"Have you spoken to Sirius?"

James gave a hollow laugh. "He doesn't want to talk to me."

"Do you want to talk to him?"

About as much as he wanted to win the upcoming match. But he said nothing.

"It's not so hard." Remus said, looking as if he knew what James was thinking. "Just tell him you're sorry for whatever it is that happened between you. What did happen between you?"

"It wasn't important."

But it was only as he said it and looked into Remus' brown eyes that he realised just how untrue that was.

He sighed. "Well maybe it was important." He admitted. "But don't tell him I said that. He thinks I'm focusing too much on quidditch and not enough on… well, you."

But he wished he'd not said it the moment the words were out of his mouth. Remus looked utterly wretched.

"Forget I said it." James said quickly.

"No, I'm glad you told me." Remus said. "Because there is absolutely nothing you or Sirius can do to help me. My parents have looked for a cure or ways to help for seven years. I don't mean to insult your intelligence, but if they've not found anything, do you really think you can? Please, forget it."

James looked at his friend. "Don't you think you're worth fighting for?"

"Maybe." Remus said with a small flicker of smile. "But I'm not worth fighting over."

Well that was just a lie, James thought as he left Remus to his crossword and went in search of Sirius. Remus was worth everything. So what if his parents hadn't found a cure in seven years? His parents weren't them, and James would be damned if he let his friend go through the rest of his school career the way he'd done for the last year and a bit. Thoughts of Remus as the wolf had crept unbidden into his head since they'd discovered the truth about him a few weeks ago. He couldn't bear thinking of his friend in so much pain and distress, and it went on for hours (not to mention the time it took to patch him up afterwards). No, they had to do something about it. And he had to find Sirius and tell him so.

"Potter!" He'd walked straight into Professor McGonagall, not looking where he was going at all, so lost as he was in his thoughts. "There you are. I was just on my way to the common room to look for you. Come with me, please."

Thinking he might have a small idea what this was all about, he followed her.

"Have a seat." She said when they arrived, making him feel a little on the back foot. She'd never told him to sit down before, though usually by this point she was already shouting at him so she probably wouldn't have had the chance to either he supposed.

He did so, and she surprised him even more by opening a tartan tin on her desk and offering him a ginger newt.

"Thanks." He said, taking one and chewing it suspiciously. He was still waiting for the other shoe to fall.

"Potter, do you know why I called you in here?"

James swallowed his mouthful of ginger newt. "I expect Yaxley's been to see you Professor. But you have to know he's a real foul - er, I mean he's quite disagreeable. He's always picking on Sirius and it's so unfair. I had to say something!"

McGonagall sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I expect you're right." She agreed, surprising James again. "But you have to know it's better not to argue with men like Professor Yaxley. You'll only make things worse."

"What are we meant to do then?! Just take it on the chin?"

McGonagall gave him a sympathetic look. "I appreciate it's more difficult for you and Black. Neither of you can just assume an animagus form in his company I know. I suppose I have that as an advantage." And she smiled slightly.

"What's an animagus?" James asked, curious.

"Didn't I demonstrate in your first year? Oh well, here you go." And she got to her feet, closed her eyes and then, moments later, a tabby cat appeared where she'd been standing, with markings round its eyes just where McGonagall's spectacles had been.

James stared at the cat, and then stared at McGonagall the human as she reappeared seconds later.

"Oh my God."

"Thank you Potter." McGonagall said, looking at him a little quizzically. "Are you quite alright?"

James wasn't sure. His mouth was dry and his head was spinning. A cascade of fresh understanding and opportunity was coursing through him like fire. He had just realised something. Something quite wonderful.

He left McGonagall's office (she was still looking at him a bit confusedly) and wandered off vaguely down the corridor. If McGonagall could turn into a cat, then couldn't he and Sirius do the same thing? Or could they perhaps turn into different animals? What if they turned into animals big enough to distract Remus during his monthly transformations? What if they could keep him company? What if he didn't have to go through his monthly ordeal alone and afraid?

The wonderful realisation sunk in as he continued down the corridor, his face breaking into a broad grin as he walked. Yes, this was it. They were going to becoming animagi! He set off running. He had to find Sirius. He had to tell him the good news. They would make this happen if it was the last thing they did, and they'd do it for Remus.