On the morning of Gryffindor’s first Quidditch match, as the sun shone brightly through the castle’s recently frosty windows, Remus and the rest of the Marauders could be found lounging lazily in their common room.
Remus watched with amusement as James continued to tap his fingers nervously against the arm of his chair. He looks ill, Remus thought with concern. He’s never been this bad before a Quidditch match before.
“Oh for God’s sake!” exclaimed James, jumping up out of his chair and startling the other three boys.
“Calm down, Prongs,” instructed Remus softly.
“Calm down? Calm down? How can I calm down when two members of my Quidditch team are still asleep?”
“Like Moony said, calm down, Prongs. I’m sure Kirsty and Lesley will be up soon,” agreed Peter.
“Notice how you automatically know that it’s Kirsty and Lesley that I’m talking about!”
“That’s because they’re the only two members that could get you this riled up - Kirst in particular,” stated Remus. “And I’m sure they’ll both be getting up as we speak. They wouldn’t let you down, not today of all days.”
“God, I hope you’re right,” replied James morosely, sinking back into his chair and putting his head in his hands.
Remus looked over at Sirius and watched as he piped up for the first time that morning. “Prongs, I do wish you would calm down; you’re making me feel edgy.” James lifted his head up and shot a mutinous glare at Sirius. “Besides,” continued Sirius, choosing to ignore James’ slight hostility towards him, “Sam isn’t up yet either.” He jerked his thumb in the direction of the boys’ dorms.
“Oh, he is.” James nodded. “I spoke to him at breakfast earlier.”
“I bet that was a bright and endearing conversation,” remarked Remus.
“I do wish Sam would lighten up. It’s like sharing a dorm with a Dementor. He sucks the happiness right out of that place!” stated Peter.
“Too true!” agreed Sirius.
“Poor Northy, in love with a member of the most hazardous group of girls that Hogwarts ever did see,” said James with a laugh.
“Let’s just hope that he does better today than he has been doing in practice,” said Sirius.
James groaned and replied jokingly, “Yeah, I blame Emma for all this you know.”
“Well, I think your blame would be better directed at Sian Morgan,” replied Peter a hint of annoyance evident in his voice.
“Wormtail does have a point. Let’s hope that Kirsty flattens her in today’s match,” agreed Remus.
“Maybe if you got Emma to forgive Sam, he’d play better,” suggested Sirius.
“Are you kidding? I’d rather go into today’s match with all my manliness still in-tact, thank you very much!” exclaimed James.
Sirius barked with laughter. “James Potter, afraid of a girl! I never thought I’d see the day!”
“Shut up, Padfoot! If you’re so brave you go and do it for me!”
“Are you kidding? A room full of five Gryffindor girls “ and undoubtedly one resident Ravenclaw “ all above the age of consent, gathered in what I imagine to be a very confined space, all in skimpy looking pyjamas, attacking me at the suggestion that an apology to Sam ‘I kissed a Slytherin cow’ North would be a worthwhile thing to do. All in all that’s a scenario that is not in the least too shabby for Padfoot!” fantasised Sirius. James snorted derisively. Sirius jerked out of his fantasising state at the sound and looked around at the other three. “I went too far, didn’t I? When should I have stopped?”
“About two seconds after you took a breath to start,” replied Peter with a smirk.
Sirius pouted. “Oh well, it would have never happened anyway. Can’t get into the girls’ dorms, for one thing.”
“A fact that has haunted me these past seven years,” replied James, his voice full of mock sorrow.
“Well, why don’t we do something about it then? If you ask me, it’s about time we took a real stab at trying to figure out how to get up there. Are we Marauders or not?” piped up Peter with much inspiring gusto.
James sighed. “But we’ve tried everything we can possibly think of. We’ve been trying ever since we first arrived at Hogwarts. It’s impossible. It can’t be done. We’ve come up with the most innovative ideas anyone has ever thought of, and we still couldn’t find a way up.”
Should I help them out? pondered Remus, now feeling immensely guilty about the fact that he had never told the other three that he had always known how to get up into the girls’ dorms. Quickly coming to a decision, he suggested to the other three, “Maybe we should give up on thinking of innovative ideas and instead go for some simpler ones.” Sirius looked over at him and raised his eyebrow suspiciously. Remus got the feeling that he wasn’t the only one who had kept the way up to the girls’ dorms a secret. James and Peter both sat still, looking as if they were thinking hard.
As the silence ensued, Remus had to try extremely hard not to laugh at the helpful hint that Sirius was silently conveying to James and Peter. He kept looking from James to his broom and back again. So far, James hadn’t picked up on this obvious clue.
After what felt like an age, James jumped out of his chair for the second time that morning and exclaimed with euphoria, “We can fly up!”
Peter too leapt up at the sound of his friend’s words. “What? Are you serious?” he asked, his voice full of anticipation.
“Yes! That’s it. That’s how we get up to the girls’ dorms. I can’t believe that it never occurred to me before. How could I have been so stupid?” James then sprinted across the common room, grabbed his broom securely by its handle, and ran for the staircase, Peter hot on his heels.
Neither boy could have possibly been prepared for the collision that greeted them when they reached the bottom of the staircase. Two overenthusiastic boys colliding at full speed with a broomstick stuck in between them must have been a painful experience indeed. Trying his best not to even crack a smile at James and Peter’s dazed looks, Remus followed Sirius as he walked casually over to them, plucked James’ broom up off the floor, and proceeded to mount it.
Remus, watching Sirius’ movements with amusement, asked with a smile, “When did you figure it out?”
Sirius spun his head around to face him, looking surprised at how Remus could have possibly realised that he knew. “Last year.”
“Beginning of fifth year,” stated Remus with what he hoped was a modest smile.
“Typical Moony,” replied Sirius, laughing and shaking his head as he kicked off hard from the floor and flew up to the girls’ dorms.
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Lily was woken by a soft flumph noise. Reluctantly heaving herself out of her drowsy state she became aware of the sound of running water coming from the bathroom, which was undoubtedly Emma embarking on her early morning shower. Realising that it wasn’t the noise of the shower that had woken her up, Lily began to wonder what it was that actually had.
Her question was answered, however, when she heard Kirsty mutter drowsily, her voice full of irritation, “For the last time, Em, throwing a pillow at my head does not get me out of bed!” Lily furrowed her brow. Surely it was Emma who was currently in the shower; nobody else got up that early to wash their hair at the weekend. But if Emma was in the shower, who was throwing pillows at Kirsty’s head to wake her up?
“Then please do tell me what does, because I would very much like my one, and only, Seeker to be out on the pitch on time!” Hang on, was that James? Involuntarily, Lily let out a cry of surprise and quickly whipped open the hangings surrounding her four-poster bed.
Someone else also let out a cry of surprise. The obvious option would have been Kirsty, seeing as Emma was in the shower and Lily was sure that she had heard the distant sounds of Lesley and Heather getting up earlier, but Kirsty didn’t sound like that. No, that cry sounded like“
“Hayley?” Lily asked groggily, shielding her eyes from the blinding sunlight that flooded the dorms and looking over at Lesley’s bed, where the cry had emanated from.
“Yeah, it’s me,” came Hayley’s voice, as she popped her head through the gap in the hangings. Lily looked at her incredulously, before turning her gaze over to Kirsty’s bed. Upon seeing all four of the boys standing there, Lily defensively pulled her bed covers up around her shoulders, and she saw Kirsty do the same. The boys stood watching their antics with amusement.
“What the hell are you doing in here?” Lily flung at them.
“Don’t you think you should direct that question to the non-Gryffindor first?” asked Peter, looking as if he was trying hard not to laugh. The other three smirked along with him, all of them looking at Hayley, or at least Hayley’s face.
“I was reading,” announced Hayley, sounding slightly embarrassed as she reached behind her and brandished her book in front of them all.
“Read in your own dorm,” said Lily in exasperation.
“I was going to, but I was worried that I’d get too engrossed and lose track of time, and I wanted to come up here and support the team.”
“You could have just stayed in the common room,” suggested Sirius helpfully. Lily shot a mutinous glare at him, not amused at all that they had managed to find a way up to the girls’ dormitory, and he graciously shut up.
“Well I was going to, but I also wanted to borrow Emma’s hair styling stuff,” answered Hayley, revealing her newly straightened hair to the group with a flick.
“Why didn’t you just do your hair by magic?” Lily asked.
“Because you know what Emma gets like when we do that - she gets offended; she likes hair to be done in the Muggle way.”
Lily heard Remus mutter something that sounded an awful lot like, “Women!”
This caused her to round on them again, “You still haven’t answered my question. What the hell do you think you’re doing coming up here?”
“Hang on, that’s not exactly what you asked us before,” answered Peter infuriatingly.
“We thought we’d come and visit your dorm for a change since you’re always in ours,” answered Remus.
“We wanted to see what various states of undress you lot were in in the morning,” replied Sirius with a devilish grin.
“And I’m here to drag my Seeker and Beater down to the Quidditch pitch,” replied James, sounding annoyed.
Lily swore that sometimes it would just be easier to push all four of them off the very top of the Astronomy Tower and let fate decide what was to become of them all.
“Lesley’s in the shower,” Hayley piped up helpfully in reply to James’ statement.
“Good,” James replied, seeming to relax a little.
“So how did you manage it?” asked Hayley with intrigue, as she propped her head up on her hands. Lily shot her a reproachful look. “What?” asked Hayley defensively. “I’m just interested.”
“By broom,” replied Remus, indicating the offending object in question, which was propped innocently against the wall.
“Ah, clever,” stated Hayley.
Kirsty, her face bathed in dazzling sunlight, moaned, “Can’t I have my hangings closed? It’s way too bright in here.”
“No,” replied James sharply. “You have to get up and ready for the match.”
“James, I have an hour and a half in which to get ready for the match.”
“An hour and twenty seven minutes, actually,” stated James, glancing at his watch.
Lily saw Kirsty roll her eyes.
“Who opened the hangings in the first place?” asked Lily curiously.
“Sirius,” James, Peter and Remus replied in unison.
Lily furrowed her brow. “How’d you know which bed was Kirst’s?” Was it just her imagination, or did Sirius look slightly flustered by this question?
“Just a good guess,” he replied cagily.
“Nobody, not even you, Sirius Black, is that good a guesser!” Lily answered, suspicion rising within her. “So I’m going to ask again, how did you know which bed was Kirst’s?” Lily saw Kirsty give Sirius a worried look.
Sighing loudly, Sirius unwillingly answered, “Because I came up here last Friday night.”
There was a collectively loud questioning of “What?” from all but Kirsty and Sirius.
“You knew about this?” Lily asked Kirsty, guessing as much owing to her lack of surprise following Sirius’ statement. Kirsty nodded slowly.
“You knew how to get up here?” James asked Sirius, sounding slightly hurt.
“Yep. I guess now we’re even for you giving me a fake password to the Prefect’s bathroom.” James glared at him. “And another thing,” added Sirius, seeming very intent on riling James further. “I didn’t just visit this dorm last Friday; I slept here too.”
“What?” screeched Lily, along with Hayley.
“Where on Earth did you sleep?” continued Hayley.
Sirius looked over to Kirsty and grinned wickedly at her. “In Kirsty’s bed.” Kirsty proceeded to cover her head with her duvet. Lily knew that this statement was probably realistically more innocent than it sounded coming from Sirius’ corrupted mouth.
“You’re not serious?” asked Peter, agog.
“Deadly serious,” replied Sirius, still grinning inanely.
“God damn you, Sirius Black!” came Kirsty’s muffled words.
“Hang on,” announced James, “last Friday night was ““
“-Quidditch practice,” Sirius finished for him, looking slightly apologetic.
“Yeah, what the hell were you doing up here that night?” asked Lily, though she had picked up on the worried tone in James’s voice and so shared a fleeting look of horror with him. Had Sirius seen anything that had happened between her and James last Friday?
Sirius, seeming uncomfortable, replied, “I came to… erm… show Kirsty… erm… something.”
“What?” asked Hayley suspiciously, sharing a glance with Remus, where she seemed to be silently asking him if he knew what was going on.
A jovial humming then emanated from the bathroom, and Lily turned sharply to see Emma walk in. Lily sighed with relief; she’d never been so glad to see Emma in her entire life, even if she was dressed in nothing but a towel. Unfortunately, Emma, who was brushing her wet hair, had her eyes closed due to being engrossed in humming her jaunty tune. Lily inwardly winced when Sirius wolf whistled. Emma jumped so much that Lily was surprised, and mildly impressed, that she managed to keep hold of the towel.
“What the bloody hell?” she screamed. “I’m sure this is some sort of invasion of personal space!”
“And a good morning to you too, Em,” Remus greeted her dryly.
Kirsty helpfully threw Emma the blanket off of the end of her bed for her to cover herself up with.
“So you knew how to get up here all along, and you didn’t tell me?” James continued to question Sirius, paying little attention to Emma’s current embarrassment.
“Well, I thought that you’d want to gain the satisfaction of knowing that you figured it out all by yourself.”
“How long have you known?” James continued to interrogate him.
“I figured it out last year,” Sirius replied, again sounding slightly apologetic. James said nothing. “But if it makes you feel any better, Moony figured it out way before I did,” Sirius continued.
Remus shot Sirius a look full of pure resentment. “Cheers, Padfoot,” he said through gritted teeth.
Lily sighed; trust the boys to be having a domestic at this time in the morning.
“What?” asked Sirius innocently. “I’m not going to be the only one who’s in the bad books.”
“I can’t believe you two!” exclaimed James. “You’ve broken the most fundamental rule of the Marauders!”
“Really?” asked Peter, wrinkling his nose with confusion.
“Yes,” answered James, sounding extremely annoyed.
“You guys have rules?” scoffed Kirsty. James spun around and glared furiously at her. Kirsty visibly wilted under his gaze and shut up immediately.
“So the most fundamental rule of the Marauders is to not keep secrets from one another?” asked Remus for clarification. James nodded.
“But I thought that the most fundamental rule of the Marauders was to not let girls get in the way of our friendship?” queried Sirius, clearly perplexed.
Lily raised her eyebrows and shared an amused look with a smirking Emma.
“No, that’s the third rule,” Remus corrected him.
“Well I thought that the fundamental rule was that we couldn’t prank an undeserving victim,” offered Peter, also confused. All four boys stood in puzzlement, clearly none of them could properly recall their own rules.
“Well, how come you always play pranks on me then?” asked Emma.
“Because you’re our friend; you don’t count,” replied James dismissively.
“Tuh, if that’s how you treat your friends I’d hate to see how you treat your enemies,” jeered Emma.
“Have you not seen them play pranks on Snape?” asked Hayley with a laugh.
As if he had suddenly come to a decision, James announced, “Okay, you both broke one of the most fundamental rules of the Marauders.”
“Sorry, James,” Remus and Sirius both said in unison. James, however, still looked sceptical.
“So just to clarify,” announced Sirius, “does this whole keeping no secrets from each other malarkey include surprises?”
James thought for a moment before announcing, “No, surprises are okay.”
“Also, does this mean that you now have to divulge unto me the password to the Prefect’s bathroom by default?”
“No!” replied everyone, but Sirius and Kirsty, in agreement.
“The ‘no secret’ rule excludes classified information,” confirmed James.
Sirius looked downhearted for a moment before a cocky grin appeared on his suddenly elated face. “So, does this mean that I am expected to reveal to Moony and Wormtail here the details of what happened to you during your first ever Quidditch practice?” James went white, and Sirius’ eyes gleamed with triumph.
“Have I ever told you how much I love you, Padfoot?” asked James, as he draped his arm around Sirius’ shoulders.
Lily couldn’t help but let out a gurgle of laughter along with the rest of the girls.
Calming down, Emma looked to Kirsty and asked, “Shouldn’t you be getting ready for the Quidditch match right about now?”
“My point exactly!” cried James. “Now, get up!”
Kirsty, not looking impressed, muttered in reply, “I don’t like ‘Quidditch Captain’ James.”
Lily watched as, for the first time that morning, a smile presented itself across James’ face. “I heard that, Kirst,” he told her, making his way over to her with a broad grin on his face.
Evidently, Kirsty didn’t like the look James was giving her as she immediately started to apologise profusely. “I take it back, I take it back!” she squealed. But it didn’t matter; James lunged forward, pulled off her duvet, and grabbed her roughly around the waist. He then proceeded to drag her backwards across her bed until her feet left the safety of her soft, quilted duvet and came into contact with the hard, cold dormitory floor.
James spun her around, still keeping a hold on her and asked with a cocky raise of his eyebrows. “Now will you please go and get ready?”
“Damn you, James Potter,” she grumbled, trying to hide a smile.
He let go of her, and she turned in order to head in the direction of the bathroom, James nudging her on her way by playfully kicking her in the back of the leg. Lily watched as Kirsty bustled around the dormitory collecting her towel, toiletries and that day’s clothes. As Kirsty made her way across the dorm to the bathroom, Lily couldn’t help but notice that Sirius was staring intently at Kirsty’s retreating back. Feeling that it was her duty as a protective friend to inform Kirsty of this lust-like behaviour, Lily proclaimed, in quite a matter-of-fact way, “Kirst, Sirius is looking at your backside.”
Kirsty spun around unnaturally fast, and sounding embarrassed and furious at the same time, she cried at Sirius, “What?”
Sirius looked immensely flustered, but even more amazing than that, Sirius Black actually looked embarrassed. Lily was in awe; Sirius never got embarrassed, or even if he did, it was a very rare occurrence. But there it was, as clear as day; a small red tinge had appeared on Sirius’ neck, just above the collar of his shirt. “I-I wasn’t,” stammered Sirius. “-Well I was,” he amended, “but not in the way you’re all thinking.” The other three Marauders shared a look that suggested that they all very much doubted this. “I was looking because you have the word ‘Snoopy’ printed on the back of your pyjama bottoms,” Sirius explained to Kirsty, looking extremely uncomfortable and offering her an apologetic look.
“That’s the most ludicrous thing that I have ever heard!” exclaimed Emma.
“Ah, but it is true,” confirmed Kirsty, who now seemed to find the whole situation quite amusing.
“Kirst, you don’t have to stick up for him. You heard him say it yourself, he pretty much came up here to leer at us in our various states of undress,” Hayley informed her.
“No, seriously, it’s true,” argued Sirius. Kirsty nodded vehemently in compliance.
“But as far as I recall, you don’t have ‘Snoopy’ printed on your bottom,” noted Lily.
“I do!” exclaimed Kirsty excitedly. She then turned around so that Lily could see that she was telling the truth.
Sirius, suddenly regaining some of his usual swagger, said wistfully, referring to the sight of the two girls in front of him, “Oh, so many fantasies coming true.” James and Peter snorted, and Remus smirked.
Lily, having now found out that ‘Snoopy’ was indeed emblazoned across the back of Kirsty’s pyjama bottoms, felt that it was about time that she took control of the situation. Feeling feisty, she threw the bed covers off herself and got up out of bed. Taking charge, she instructed, “Kirsty, you go and get your shower, and hurry Lesley along whilst you’re in there. Hayley, you go down to breakfast; we’ll come and get you when we’re ready.” Hayley looked downhearted but immediately got up out of bed to comply with Lily’s order. “Emma, for God’s sake go and put some clothes on. And you four,” Lily pointed at the boys who were looking intrigued. “Get out!” But rather than complying with her instructions, the boys stood still, looking extremely amused.
“But, Lil, it’s just so appealing up here,” stated James, his eyes dancing with amusement as he proceeded to look Lily very slowly up and down.
Lily felt as if her legs had turned to jelly. Damn James, why does he have to have this effect on me? Feeling very self conscious, she also looked down and quickly surveyed her appearance. She was wearing a stripy, red tank top and white pyjama bottoms. No wonder James was looking positively gleeful at her appearance. Trying not to let on how much his actions had affected her, Lily reached over and picked up James’ beloved broomstick, and standing so that they were face-to-face, she again instructed, “Out.” She stared him defiantly in the face, before thrusting the broom forcefully into his chest. Something again flickered in the depths of James’ eyes, but Lily was too inept to tell what it was this time.
With complete amiability, James replied, “I’m not going anywhere without my two Quidditch players.”
“Out,” Lily instructed more softly, but there was a playful edge to her tone.
“What did I just say about Quidditch players?” he challenged her.
“Fine, I will make sure Kirsty and Lesley are ready on time and send them to you promptly.”
A slight smile appeared on James’ face, and his dark eyes bored into hers. Taking Lily completely by surprise, James leaned down so that his face was level with hers and whispered suggestively in her ear, “I love it when you take charge.” A shiver sent itself all the way down Lily’s spine, and her stomach was jolting uncontrollably. But to her face, James stated, way too formally for her liking, “Thank you, I am very much obliged.”
Lily was aware of Remus’ and Peter’s movements towards the door, and she sensed that James was too. “My pleasure,” she replied with a timid smile. They stood looking at each other for a while, and Lily couldn’t help but wonder what everyone in the room would do if she suddenly reached up and kissed James. Every fibre of her being was yearning to do it, but something inside her head kept on instructing her that now was not the time.
“Out of my way, lovebirds,” shouted Sirius jokingly.
Seeing that he was about to barge right past her, Lily threw her arm out to stop him. “What are you doing? I told you to get out.”
“And I will, I promise, I just want to do something.” But Lily didn’t let him progress any further across the dormitory.
Seeming to realise that this was as good as it was going to get, Sirius stopped trying to get passed her and shouted suggestively, in the direction of the girls’ bathroom, “Need any help in there, Kirst? Because I’d hate for you to be late for the first Quidditch match of the year! Maybe I could come in there and speed things up a bit.” He grinned devilishly, a triumphant look on his face. He was clearly pleased with himself.
Lily stared at him incredulously and noticed over Sirius’ shoulder that James was smirking and looking at Sirius with something close to pride. Black and Potter, as thick as thieves, she marvelled. Lily was then extremely glad that she knew Kirsty as well as she did, because if she had moved out from in front of Sirius a moment later, it would have been she who would’ve been hit painfully with the bar of soap.
Sirius was taken by surprise when the bar of soap in question hit him squarely in the chest. Before Lily even had time to marvel at Kirsty’s spectacular aim, she heard Kirsty yell, loud enough for the entire room to hear, “Yeah right, Sirius. From the rumours that I’ve heard, you’re more likely to slow down the proceedings than speed them up, if you catch my drift?”
Lily was too shocked to laugh; had Kirsty White just got the better of Sirius Black? Hayley and Emma giggled and the other three boys snorted. Sirius, too, was in shock. He was clearly trying to figure out if Kirsty had just implied what he thought she had implied; the look on his face was a mixture between shock, awe, annoyance and amusement. There was clearly no response to that sort of statement, and Sirius stood looking completely stumped.
Deciding to seize this opportunity with both hands, Lily started to force Sirius backwards towards the door. “Out,” she ordered once again.
Sirius then dug his heels in, making it much harder for her to move him. “And what if I refuse?” he asked teasingly.
“I will permanently disfigure you with James’ broomstick, and when I’m finished, Kirsty’s comment will not be so far from the truth!”
Sirius looked at her in awe for a moment before answering, “Have I ever told you how much I love you, Lil?” To her surprise, Sirius then turned and made his way obediently over to the staircase.
Lily watched as James sent the other three down in turn on his broomstick, and her stomach churned once again when James smiled at her in the form of a goodbye. Ah, but unfortunately it’s not Sirius’ love that interests me, she thought morosely.
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Kirsty was truly regretting eating so much at breakfast as she now had to fight the uncontrollable urge to throw up. After all, there was nothing like the first Quidditch match of the season to throw your insides into disarray.
Trying her best to ignore the uncomfortable squirming of her stomach, Kirsty pulled on her scarlet Quidditch robes and slipped her wand securely into the belt of her trousers. She turned around to look at James who was seated in the far corner of the changing room with his hands clasped tightly in front of him, staring blankly at the floor. In Kirsty’s honest opinion, he looked even worse than she felt.
Despite James’ sickly appearance, Kirsty couldn’t help the smirk that played across her lips every time she looked at him, and it wasn’t just James that bought about this seemingly strange reaction; it was the whole of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
It was all Emma’s fault, which was something that Kirsty took great pride in admitting, as owing to her innate creativity, Emma had come to the decision that it would be a great idea to decorate the team in Gryffindor colours in order to emanate house spirit. It was the reality of this idea that Kirsty now stood facing; all of the team had had their faces painted red, and each had a small golden broomstick present on their left cheek, courtesy of Emma’s artistic hand. However, their faces were the only thing that matched, as Emma had even gone as far as to decorate the seventh years’ hair in a number of vibrant ways. Kirsty’s own hair kept flashing with red and gold streaks; James’ had been spiked up ever so slightly and was dyed red at the tips; Lesley’s consisted of red and gold stripes and Sam’s, which had been styled in deathly silence by Emma, was completely red, except for the tips which had been dyed gold. Kirsty’s Gryffindor-coloured nails were also back, but this time, Emma had decided to actually write the word ‘Gryffindor’ flamboyantly across them.
The team stood in silence, listening to the deafening roars that were now emanating from the crowd outside. As one, Kirsty and the other five team members turned to face James, awaiting the usual pre-match pep talk from their team captain, but it didn’t come. He tried to speak several times, made an odd gulping noise, then shook his head hopelessly and beckoned them to follow him. Kirsty shared an apprehensive look with Lesley, who shrugged hopelessly at her in return, before proceeding to follow a sullen James out to the entrance to the Quidditch pitch.
Kirsty shouldered her broomstick; the acrobatics in her stomach becoming much more pronounced as she did so. She really didn’t want to let the team down today. She had to win today’s match; she had to do it - she had to do it for James. He had so much faith in her that she wouldn’t be able to bare it if she were to let him down. James really needed a win today to boost his confidence in his capability to be captain of Gryffindor. Coming to a standstill next to the rest of the team, she glanced around at them all and noticed that each one looked just as nervous as the next. This won’t do, she thought to herself. If James isn’t going to do something to boost morale, then I am.
Raising her voice in order to address the entire team better, Kirsty boomed, “We have to win today, guys. We need to show the rest of the school what the Gryffindor team does best. If you understand, say ‘understand’. If you don’t understand, say ‘don’t understand’. But if you understand and say don’t understand, how am I to understand that you understand? Understand?”
There was an appreciative laugh from all concerned, and in unison, all six players answered in the affirmative, “Understand!”
James looked over at Kirsty and grinned gratefully; he seemed to understand what she had been trying to achieve. Splashes of colour had returned to his cheeks, and for the first time since they had left the common room that morning, James spoke, his voice filled with pride, “Now let’s go out there and prove that Gryffindor has the best Quidditch team in the whole of Hogwarts!” There was a chorus of appreciative whooping, before the doors creaked open, and Kirsty’s face was bathed in the bright morning light. Nerves then filled every part of her body as the deafening roar of the crowd reverberated around her.
They walked out onto the pitch to tumultuous noise. Boos emanated from the Slytherin quarter of the crowd, but Kirsty didn’t care as, by the sound of it, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were cheering the team on along with their fellow Gryffindors.
The Slytherin team approached them from the opposite end of the pitch, all wearing looks of animosity that they reserved especially for the Gryffindors.
Madam Hooch strode commandingly over to them from the side of the pitch, carrying the brown crate which contained the four Quidditch balls: the red Quaffle, which was used by the team’s three Chasers to score goals in one of the three large hoops at each end of the pitch; the two black Bludgers whose job it was to unseat players from their broomsticks, and it was the Beaters responsibility to prevent the Bludgers from harming any of their team members; and lastly, the Golden Snitch, which was the Seeker’s responsibility as the catching of the Snitch ended the game and gave the Seeker’s team an extra one hundred and fifty points that usually won them the game.
“Captains, shake hands,” instructed Madam Hooch sternly, eyeing up both teams, seemingly already alert for any foul play that might take place. James stepped resolutely forward, as did Rosier, the Slytherin captain; it was hard to tell which face showed the most dislike, and when they shook hands, it looked as if each of them were trying to break the other’s fingers.
“Mount your brooms!” barked Madam Hooch as she too took heed of this instruction.
Kirsty swung her leg over her trusty Nimbus One Thousand, feeling if possible, even more ill than before. She still couldn’t believe that she had allowed James to rope her into playing for the team for the second year in a row; the first year had been nerve racking enough.
With the sound of Madam Hooch’s shrill silver whistle still pounding in her ears, Kirsty kicked off hard from the ground, rising high above the stands alongside James.
“Good morning and welcome to the first Quidditch match of the year, Gryffindor versus Slytherin!”
Kirsty halted in mid-air and turned her head around so fast that her neck cricked. She looked disbelievingly over to the commentator’s podium, and her mouth fell open. Sirius was commentating. But who was that stood next to him? Was that “ Emma?
“Oh, my God,” she gasped, and she heard James utter the exact same words from beside her.
Kirsty looked more closely at her two friends. She couldn’t believe that they had done this. Focusing on Emma, she noticed that her hair was shimmering all over with colours of red and gold. If Kirsty squinted, it kind of looked like “ was that? “ did Emma have a lion dyed into her hair? James seemed to have noticed this too as he and Kirsty shared one last incredulous look before both sped off to resume their tasks.
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Hayley had to suppress her giggles as she stared, awestruck, at her two friends on the commentators’ podium. So this was why the pair had been conspiring in whispers half an hour before the match, and it must have also been why Sirius had seemed in such a rush to get Emma and himself out of the common room before everybody else.
She surveyed Emma’s appearance, and a wide grin appeared on her face; the lion on Emma’s hair was a brilliant creation and married with her face, which had red painted diagonally at the top and gold painted underneath. Emma was as noticeable as a beacon.
Hayley removed her gaze from Sirius and Emma and surveyed the trio seated around her instead. Lily and Peter were both looking incredulously in the direction of the commentators’ podium, and Remus was wearing that infuriating smile of his, which suggested to Hayley that he wasn’t at all surprised by the antics of Sirius and Emma.
Hayley surveyed the group of people sat around her as they too had been subjected into showing a bit of house pride. Remus, like Sirius, had point blank refused to let Emma style his hair, but he had consented to having his face painted. This was why the left hand side of Remus' face was currently painted gold with the right side painted red.
Peter, who was always a good sport, had no arguments when it came to letting Emma do his hair, which was why he was now sporting bright red hair and a face that had been painted with red and gold horizontal stripes. Emma had left Lily’s hair alone, as it was already a supportive Gryffindor colour, but she had painted her whole face gold. Finally, Hayley herself had got in on the act of supporting the Gryffindor team, so her hair was now dyed with gold streaks, and she was sporting a red face, just like Sirius’.
As Emma’s voice piped up from the commentators’ podium, Hayley fixed her gaze back onto the pitch to watch the match.
Things Aren't Always Black and White by padfootsgirl1981
Chapter Notes: Hi, guys! Here’s Chapter Nine (woot!) and I’m afraid it’s a long one, so I’ve had to split it in half (otherwise it doesn’t fit!). So, if you hadn’t guessed from the title, this is our first Quidditch match (hence the longness) so I really hope you enjoy it! It was definitely the hardest chapter to write so far, but also the most enjoyable! Sorry it took me so long to get this validated, my bad, but it’s here now! And as promised, this is a belated birthday present for kritchen, I hope you like it! A huge thanks to my 2 beta readers starfalling_13 and h_vic, these guys are seriously awesome for betaing this chapter (16,000 words!) so quickly for me! Enjoy! :D
Chapter Endnotes: Sorry to leave it there everybody, horrible place to leave it, I know, just before the action really starts! But I promise you that it was the only logical place where I could break it up! But look out for part two, it should be posted VERY soon, and I promise you that you’ll regret it if you don’t read it, lots of stuff happens!! Just a quick note, I got the idea for the Marauders’ ‘rules’ from the TV show Hustle, and a brilliant episode it was too :D! Also if anyone wishes to ask me any questions about this story or me or writing then feel free to contact me via my newly made duelling thread. It’s over on the forums (obviously) and if you want the web address check out my bio. Thanks again for reading, please take the time to review.