The Marauder Years Part 4

   James rose out of his daze and realised he had ran out of polish. He, Sirius and Cornelia were in the trophy room buffing up suits of armour and the many, many trophies. He turned to the other two and gestured towards the storeroom.
   'I'm just going...' he trailed off. They were both ignoring each other so intently they were oblivious to him, so he shrugged and left them to it.
As he went, he heard Cornelia say 'I can't believe you asked out Claire Vane.'
   In the storeroom he grabbed the bottle labelled Mrs Norbert's Magical Scrub 'N' Shine and was about to go back in when he heard voices. Apparently Sirius had answered back to Cornelia and they were having their first civilised conversation in two days.
   'I didn't know what you thought,' Sirius was saying 'I didn't know whether you were disappointed or relieved or what!
   'Of course I was disappointed!' James heard Cornelia say.
   'But you weren't talking to me-'
   'You were the best kiss I've ever had!'
There was a clanging noise and James wondered if Cornelia had thrown something at Sirius, so he reappeared in the doorway, and instantly regretted it. Sirius and Cornelia were kissing so enthusiastically James wasn't sure where to look, so he looked at the floor and saw the trophy that Cornelia had been polishing. She must have dropped it in her hurry to eat Sirius's face. James backed into the storeroom, chuckling under his breath.
Didn't take long for them to make up. He felt a stab of jealousy. If only Lily would be as happy to see him, he would be sorted.
   'What are you up to?'
Filch was standing by the door at the back of the room which came out under the 3rd floor stairway.
   'Mr Filch!' James said loudly, hoping his voice would travel into the trophy room. Sure enough he heard the sound of a trophy being picked clumsily off the floor.
   'Just getting some more polish, sir!' He held up Mrs Norbert's Scrub 'N' Shine.
   'Well stop wasting time.' Filch growled. 'I want all these trophies cleaned by the end of the day.'
They re-entered the trophy room to find Sirius and Cornelia scrubbing intently. The only give away was that Sirius's hair was ruffled, and Cornelia's face was slightly flushed.
   'You see, sir?' said James brightly 'We're making good progress.'
   'Well when I come back at the end of the day I want them all done. I'm putting Mrs Norris at the door.' He prowled out. As the door closed James raised his wand and whispered 'Scourgify!' so that all the trophies and suits of armour gleamed.
   'You can thank me later.' James muttered to Sirius under his breath so Cornelia couldn't hear. On the other side of the door James put his foot in front of Mrs Norris and pushed her into the room, locking the door behind them.

* * *

   Using James's Invisibility Cloak the three of them went down the secret passageway into Hogsmeade. It came out in the basement of Honeyduke's Sweet Shop, and after that it was easy to get lost in the crowd of Hogwart's students.
   In the street, however, they ran into a group of 6th years, among which was none other than Claire Vane. Her eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw them.
   'You!' she cried. 'What are you doing here? With her?' She pointed rudely at Cornelia, who didn't seem to know whether to look affronted or apologetic. James heard Sirius mumble something incoherant, but was already running towards the safety of the Three Broomsticks.
   'WHAT?!'
The shout seemed to cling to him as he shut the door behind him. His ears were soon filled with the contented chattering of Hogwart's students. He looked around the full pub and saw Remus and Mary MacDonald both drinking Butterbeer in the corner. Deciding not to interrupt, he turned instead to the huge figure of Hagrid who was sitting  nearby drinking a large flagon of Firewhisky.
   'Alright Hagrid?'
The gamekeeper looked down at him through red-rimmed eyes.
   'Not really James, no.'
He stared deep into his flagon before pulling a photo out of his jacket and handing it to James. It was a younger Hagrid, still at least 7 foot tall, with a friendly looking man perched on his shoulder.
   'Me dad.' Hagrid grunted, jabbing the photo with one huge finger.'
   'He looks cool.' James wasn't sure what to say.
   ''E was.' nodded Hagrid. ''E was a decent chap. Anyway today's the Anniversary of 'is death.'
   'Oh.' James raised his glass of Butterbeer. 'Well, to your dad then.'
Hagrid clanked his flagon against it, slopping Butterbeer and Firewhisky onto the table, and they both drank.
   'Anyway,' said Hagrid with a loud sniff. ''Ow's it goin' with tha' lady o' yours, Lily Evans?'
   'She's not mine.' James stated gloomily. 'She hates me.'
   'I'm sure she don' hate you.' Hagrid reassured, patting James on the shoulder so hard he thought he heard a soft crack.
   'No one could hate you, James, yer a great guy.' He raised his flagon again, slightly unsteadily this time. 'To James Potter and *hic* Lily Evans.' He clanked it against James's once more, although it remained on the table. He looked at him sympathetically.
   'Come on James it's early days yet.' He laughed. 'I mean, yer only in yer 5th year! Mind you,' He added grimly 'I'd already left school by then.'
James looked up curiously.
   'Why, when did you leave school?'
   'Oh...erm...7th year o' course, when else? Must'a had too much Firewhisky.'
James suspected Hagrid was hiding something, but he let it drop, and took another swig of Butterbeer. He glanced over to where Remus and Mary were sitting to see them engrossed in what seemed to be a very amusing conversation, as Mary kept giggling.
Although he was, of course, happy for Remus, this did nothing to lift his spirits.

* * *

   When they got back that evening Peter was waiting for them outside the portrait of the fat lady.
   'Where's Filch, then?' Sirius asked Peter.
   'Peeves locked Mrs Norris in the Trophy Room so Filch is up at Dumbledore's office complaining about him.'
   'How do you know that?' Cornelia asked him curiously. Peter looked a bit shifty and mumbled something about hearing it from one of the ghosts, but James knew he would have looked on the map the four of them had made. It showed the whole school and all its passageways, including little named dots for all the people inside the castle grounds. The only thing that wasn't on there was the Room of Requirement, as it was unplottable.
   They all climbed in through the portrait hole, and immediately wished they had stayed outside. Olivia and Lily were standing with their hands on their hips, blocking the way. The rest of the room was deserted since everyone was at dinner. Sirius and Cornelia hastily let go of each other's hands, but too late.
   'What are you doing?' Olivia hissed.
   'Well,' Cornelia started shakily 'You did say you wanted me to be happy, so I thought-'
   '-that you'd throw aside my feelings as easily as he did?' Olivia spat. Her cornrows were looking unkept, and with her eyes wide she looked slightly alarming.
   'Listen Livvy,' Cornelia said cautiously 'I know you're upset that Sirius likes me, but you keep talking like he led you on and he never did anything like that.'
   'I told you how I felt about him!' Olivia burst out, close to tears. The boys shifted uncomfortably. 'I told you how much I liked him, but you just ignored me and...and...'
Her sobbing had rendered her incoherent. Cornelia gave Sirius an apologetic look.
   'I'm gonna take her to the girls' bathrooms.' she said, wrapping an arm around Olivia's shaking shoulders and leading her out of the common room. The boys all heaved little sighs of relief.
   'Well let's go get ready for Qui-' James started, but Lily cut him off.
   'Don't think you'll be let off so easily.' James gaped at her indignantly.
   'What have I done?!'
   'Oh come on; you, Cornelia and Sirius disappear from your detention and Peeves just happens to lock Mrs Norris in the room you were supposed to be in?'
Peter smiled, apparently unaware of Lily's threatening tone.
   'I thought that might've been you-'
   'I'm a prefect!' Lily interrupted. 'It's my responsibility to report this!'
As she stood there defiantly with her dark red hair rippling and her green eyes glinting, James couldn't help noticing how beautiful she was when she was angry.
   'Listen, Evans,' he said gently, sensing the others leaving behind him, 'Let me go and get ready for the match, and you can yell at me all you want afterwards, OK?'
He thought he saw her hard expression soften slightly, and before she could return to her normal self he spun around and leapt out of the portrait hole after the others.

* * *

   A sea of red and gold; the green and silver didn't even compare thought James as he gazed down at the spectators from his broomstick.

   'Aaaand MacDonald is pelting down the pitch with the Quaffle, passes to Sharp, Sharp shoots - oooh good save by the Slytherin Keeper!'
   James glanced down at Ted Tonks, the commentator who was in Hufflepuff. On the other side of the pitch the rival Seeker, Sirius's brother Regulus, was hovering just above the ground. They were an hour into the match and James could feel all eyes on him. Everyone's hopes rested on him catching the tiny winged ball that was the Snitch. He put on a burst of speed and rose higher into the air, scanning the pitch for a speck of gold.
   '-Gregory tackled by Jones who takes possession of the Quaffle, passes to MacDonald, ooh watch out for that Bludger! Nice dodge there from MacDonald-'
The Gryffindor Beater raced towards the Bludger and belted it at a Slytherin player.
   'MacDonald shoots - SHE SCORES! 50-20 to Gryffindor!' Ted yelled happily, the cheers from the crowd rose far above the Slytherins' boos.
   Suddenly James saw it, a flash of gold just behind Mary's broom where she was punching the air in triumph. He lay flat against his broomstick and shot towards her.
   'What's this? Is Potter attacking a member of his own team?' Ted was wondering aloud from below. The wind whistled in James's ears as he zoomed towards that tiny ball that meant the end of the match. Regulus had realised what was happening and was flying in the same direction, but he was too far away. A look of confusion crossed Mary's face, followed by fear.
   'Could it be?' he heard Ted say 'IT IS! POTTER'S SEEN THE SNITCH!'
The crowd urged James on as he reached out his hand. Mary swerved out of the way, but the tail of her broom knocked the winged ball downwards, and time seemed to slow. Regulus was getting closer, and James dropped into a vertical dive, holding onto his broom with one arm, the other stretched out in front of him as he rocketed at the Snitch. The game had come to a complete stand still as the players and all the school held their breath. The wall of green that was the pitch was approaching alarmingly fast.
   'YES!'
James pulled out of the dive just metres away from the ground, the golden Snitch fluttering feebly in his fist.
   The stadium exploded.
Ted was yelling incoherently into the magical megaphone as the Gryffindor team crashed into James one by one, ending up as a red and gold mass on the floor. Supporters were pouring onto the pitch towards them. Cornelia was on Sirius's back, her hands raised above her head, tears streaming down her face. Remus had swept Mary off her feet in a passionate embrace, and James felt himself laughing with joy. Peter was jumping up and down yelling 'WE WON! WE WON!' while the rest of the team screamed hoarsely amongst the mass of celebrating students.
   'MATCH OVER!' he heard Ted shout hysterically 'Final score 200-30 to Gryffindor! Take that Slytherin!'
   James looked over at the Slytherin team. Regulus was trailing his broom along the turf dejectedly, while the Captain looked as though he had swallowed a whole bottle of stinksap. The Gryffindor Captain ran towards them, holding the Quidditch House Cup high above him, and was soon mobbed by the screaming crowd.
   'Prongs!' Sirius called, Cornelia still on his back. 'Party! Gryffindor Common Room!'
The crowd slowly began to make their way, cheering and singing, up to the doors of the castle, the rest of the school trailing behind.
   'Who's getting booze?' James asked Sirius, only mildly aware of the Snitch still struggling in his hand.
   'Wormtail's taking care of it.'
An hour later the common room was packed. Gryffindor banners were everywhere. Little models of famous Quidditch players were flying around the room over the students' heads along with the Snitch James had nicked. Music was being projected out of red and gold balloons that clustered around the ceiling, bobbing up and down in time to the beat. Peter was throwing bottles of Butterbeer into the crowd.
   'Here's to the Seeker who won us the match!' someone called, and suddenly James was being hoisted into the air by a pack of 7th years. The Gryffindors filling the room roared their approval. From his vantage point James just managed to glimpse Sirius and Cornelia in a lusty embrace in the boy's staircase before his eyes found Lily, who was in the crowd and beaming up at him. Her red hair was falling down her shoulders and her green eyes danced with happiness.
   At that moment no one in the room was as ecstatic as James Potter. Perhaps even no one in the entire wizarding world.