Second Year, Second Chances

Preview of: hp
CHAPTER FOUR : On Quidditch and Mysterious Disappearances

The room was quiet. Almost TOO quiet, by most people's standards, but not necessarily that deathly ill - and oftentimes terrifying - type of silence that occurred in the depths of the Forbidden Forest on a full moon night or just after a relative's death. No, it was the suspicious type of quietness, the kind that wasn't quite disquieting, but wasn't very comfortable, either. It was that wonderful type of silence that hung in the air just before a mischievous act took place, like the calm before a storm.

Sirius loved that type of silence. Even moreso, he loved that quietness when he was the only one who knew when it was going to end. And, as he waved his wand casually towards three water-filled buckets, Sirius could most certainly feel comfortable in the silence he caused.

And, of course, in the chaos that sprung forth from it.

Three loud screams echoed throughout the room as James, Peter, and Remus were each doused in ice-cold water, at exactly 6:18 in the morning. For a moment, they stared in bafflement at their predicament, before they all thought to look up towards the center of the room, where Sirius was standing. Three boys, with water dripping from their chins, stared blankly at him.

"Heh," Sirius commented, grinning cheekily, "Ain't payback a bitch?"

________________________________

Sirius Black grinned across the breakfast table at the one person who had deemed it reasonable to sit near him after that morning's excursion: Remus. James, shooting disgruntled glares - which Sirius took as compliments, especially since he could still see the smile James tried to keep hidden -, was sitting by a couple of first year boys that he had met the day before while doing his Very Important work. Peter had followed him, his hair still slightly damp from a not-very-good Drying Charm.

So that left Sirius, who was seated in his usual spot and still stifling giggles under his breath, and Remus, who hadn't wanted to sit with the first years for reasons unstated (though Sirius assumed it was because one of them had stage whispered about how Remus looked "creepy" and the brown- haired boy had taken offense to that. Actually, Sirius also thought that Remus looked kind of creepy, but it was a cool creepy, for one, and Sirius wasn't stupid enough to try and say that to Remus, anyway.)

"G'mornin', ol' chap," Sirius greeted Remus as the thin boy sat down, perfectly dry and looking as if he had a perfectly normal morning. "Aren't you looking lovely this splendid September morn? Biscuit?" Sirius held out the tray.

Remus simply raised an eyebrow, ignored the tray, and began piling some bacon alongside his eggs. Sirius' shoulders slumped.

"Remus, don't tell me you're going to be giving me the silent treatment, now," Sirius whined, looking at Remus with pleading blue eyes. "C'mon, now, it was a good joke! And you all deserved it!"

Remus said nothing as he applied maple syrup to his pancakes.

Sirius growled audibly and slammed his fist down - gently, really - by Remus' plate. "Come off it, now! I want to talk to you about yesterday, and it won't work very well if you keep ignoring me."

Aha! There, a tiny little quirk in Remus' mouth, and Sirius knew he had won. Lousy little jerk, pretending to be mad like that - Sirius knew without a doubt that if Remus was really trying to ignore him, there would be no way in the world that Sirius could break through the defenses that easily. Remus had just been playing him, Sirius had deduced, a realization that made his cheeks flush red and his eyes narrow. Remus caught sight of Sirius' expression and snickered loudly.

"You... you sodding git," Sirius muttered as Remus started to full-out laugh. "Just because I worry that you're going to take actual offense one of these days-"

"But still!" Remus snickered, "Your expression was so... so indignant! I couldn't help but laugh."

"Jerk."

"True, but I'm a jerk who made it possible for you to have a good hearty laugh at Snape," Remus reminded him, "so you should be nice to me."

Sirius sighed happily as he remembered the beloved incident that had just occurred the day before. Snape, covered with around fifteen little Niffler puppies, who in turn were completely covered in mud... It was a memory to last a lifetime. Or, at least, a couple of weeks.

"It was a good first prank, wasn't it?" Sirius murmured, looking at Remus for agreement, which the golden-eyed boy gave by nodding. "I'm glad we were able to make it such a spectacular show. I mean, I hear even some sixth years were talking about it. And they were too far away to have seen anything, I bet."

Remus smiled. "Well, seeing a kid get covered in muddy Nifflers isn't exactly commonplace, you know. It was a good prank, though I still don't think it was necessarily brilliant." He gave Sirius a teasing stare.

"You're just jealous," sniffed Sirius haughtily, taking a big bite of his heavily buttered toast. For a few moments, both of them fell silent, as Remus munched on bacon and Sirius put some more jam on his remaining pieces of toast. Then, growing slightly uncomfortable about the silence - he was never one for sustained silences, obviously, especially when there was someone else in the room -, Sirius looked up at Remus and asked, "You aren't mad about the water thing this morning, right?"

Remus looked a bit surprised at the uncharacteristic show of uncertainty from Sirius, but whatever he thought, he didn't share it; instead, Remus sat up straighter and smiled at Sirius comfortingly. He replied, "Of course not; we deserved it for what we did yesterday. Besides, it was funny." His golden eyes seemed to glow as they reflected the light.

Sirius fidgeted awkwardly under Remus' stare, feeling a bit silly for admitting such a little worry. And to have Remus take it so seriously, even; barely anyone took things Sirius said without thinking there was some kind of joke behind it, so whenever Sirius had a more meaningful thing to say, it was difficult to find anyone who would listen to him seriously. James would. And so did his cousin Andromeda, sometimes. And Remus.

"Well, ah..." Sirius began, embarrassed at being scrutinized. Remus blinked, noticing the sudden tension - it was clear to anyone that Sirius was feeling awkward - and cleared his throat, looking quickly over his shoulder at a notice pinned up on the wall.

"Say," mentioned Remus, eyes lighting up as he read the sign, "Quidditch tryouts are this week. Are you and James still planning on trying out for the Gryffindor team?"

Sirius looked up, anxiety forgotten and excitement quickly taking its place. "Say, yeah! You're right! I had forgotten about it!" He then turned over to face James, who was seated a few seats down from him, and shouted, "Oi! James, James!"

"What?" his best friend asked, looking over at Sirius with a mask of annoyance on his face.

"Quidditch tryouts! This week!"

James' eyes lit up, and he dropped his irritated expression almost instantly. "Blimey, Sirius, I'd forgotten! Tryouts!"

"Right, then," Sirius said, jumping up, "Let's go practice!"

"Yes!"

"You guys!" Remus called after them, as they both moved to leave the Great Hall. James and Sirius stopped and turned back to face him; Remus, looking exasperated, continued, "We have Defense Against the Dark Arts in ten minutes." Sirius and James glanced at each other, and then at the few people who had overheard the conversation and were now snickering at them.

"Heh, well..." Sirius trailed off.

"I don't suppose practice couldn't be put off a bit, right?" James offered, blushing brightly.

Remus rolled his eyes. "You're both mad."

___________________________

As Professor Anthony droned on about a magical theory about vampires - a subject which normally would have interested Sirius a great deal, especially considering his conviction that the professor herself was a vampire - Sirius could barely sit still in his seat. He kept tapping his foot on the ground and glancing over at James, who was trying his best not to do the same.

"Calm down," Remus reproved quietly from behind them, poking Sirius on the shoulder with his quill. "I can't concentrate on the lesson with you bouncing around like that."

"Aren't you excited, though?" Sirius hissed back.

"Not really," whispered Remus, "as I'm not trying out."

"But still!"

"Shh," a new voice hushed, and Sirius turned to glare at Lily Evans.

"You 'shh,' Lily Evans; I'm talking to Remus," Sirius informed her.

Lily frowned at him, her spring green eyes glinting in annoyance. Tensing her shoulders, she whispered, "Sirius Black, I'm trying to listen and I don't care who you're trying to talk to. I can't hear what Professor Anthony is saying."

James, who had turned to look back at them, said, "Oh, sorry, Lily," and motioned for Sirius to turn around. At Sirius' outraged expression - weren't they in the girl hating business together? -, James pointed at Professor Anthony, who was shooting discrete glares in their direction. Grabbing a piece of parchment and dipping his quill in ink, James wrote a message: We'll get in trouble and won't be able to try out.

Sirius snatched the parchment. But she's so annoying!

Taking the message back, James read it and replied, Ignore her. She's stuck- up. She kept being snotty to me when we were working together.

Sirius sighed as he read the message, and then glanced up to make sure Anthony wasn't glaring at them or anything. Whatever, as long as she doesn't butt in again.

The response James gave was, I want to practice for Quidditch tryouts during lunch, okay? We can eat quickly, right?

Yes, Sirius wrote back, and I can try being a Beater on you. Haha!

Prat.

Git.

Suddenly, just as Sirius was about to push the parchment back to James, it was taken from his hands. Feeling the familiar feeling of anxiety sink into his stomach, Sirius forced himself to look up into the narrowed eyes of Professor Anthony. The small professor seemed to grow at least five feet as she towered over Sirius with a menacing expression on her face, a severe look of indignation that Sirius felt was rivaled only by Professor McGonagall herself. Or, perhaps, God.

Beside him, Sirius felt James wince.

"Mr. Black," hissed the red-haired Professor quietly, her brown eyes narrowing as her mouth ironically quirked upwards, "just what do you think is so interesting that it rivals my own lesson on the stigmas of vampires?"

"Um...." Sirius began, searching his mind for a decent excuse that didn't involve anything inane. Not finding any, Sirius answered, "Ah, Quidditch tryouts?"

James sighed dramatically in the seat beside him and muttered, "Great excuse, you prat..."

Professor Anthony glared quickly at James, and then looked back at Sirius. "How unconventional for you to tell the truth, Mr. Black."

"Well, I strive to be surprising, Professor," replied Sirius, sounding cocky despite his growing worry. He could feel the sweat building on the back of his neck as Professor Anthony didn't remove her glare, as well as the stares from the other students. (And, if he heard correctly, the muffled giggles from the seat directly behind; whatever it was that Remus was finding so funny, Sirius both wanted to know and wanted to hit Remus for distracting him. And if Remus was laughing at him.... That jerk.)

"In that case, Mr. Black," continued Anthony, "I should strive to aptly punish you for disrupting my class with your continuous scribbling with the quill. How does detention for the next two nights sound? Meet me here at eight tonight and tomorrow." "Two nights?" Sirius repeated, baffled by the additional day. "But why so many?"

"Well, exceptional people deserve exceptional punishments, do they not?" Anthony replied simply, smirking quickly at Sirius before turning away with a wave of her forest green robes. Sirius gaped after her for a few moments before closing his mouth with a huff and slouching in his chair. Behind him, Remus had stopped giggling.

As Professor Anthony continued with her lecture - picking up, Sirius noticed with an eye roll, on the stereotypical temper of vampires - Sirius glared at his desktop. Beside him, James was sitting up straight and stiff, looking at the front of the classroom with a stony expression. The rest of the class period went by more slowly than Sirius could have ever imagined, and as soon as the end bell finally toned, Sirius jumped out of his seat and frowned irritably at Professor Anthony's retreating back (as she walked back to her office.)

"I can't believe it!" Sirius fumed, gathering his things and looking over at James. "I mean, two whole nights? I'm never going to be able to practice for tryouts! And all I did was write something; really, she's way too uptight!"

"I'm sorry," James offered sympathetically, patting Sirius on the shoulder.

"If I may, though," murmured Remus, who came up behind them with a curious- looking Peter in tow, "you kind of brought it on yourself."

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" snapped Sirius.

Remus frowned. "It means that you weren't listening and it isn't exactly Professor Anthony's fault if she deems it right to punish you for that."

Sirius glowered at Remus, who stood his ground even though Peter flinched and moved away. James, standing beside Sirius, was frozen in a half-baked attempt to pull his best friend back, but Sirius had pushed him off.

"You know what, Remus?" Sirius began, "I'm sick of you acting so high and mighty sometimes. I wasn't listening, yeah, but she didn't need to assign me detention for two days! And now I'm not going to have time to practice!"

"I didn't meant to say-" Remus started, but Sirius continued full throttle.

"Maybe you should think of what you say before you start in on me next time!" shouted Sirius, fists clenching. He didn't know why he was so mad about it - it wasn't as if he didn't know it was his fault for getting in trouble - but something about Remus' prudish attitude and the laughter he had heard when he was getting snapped at by Professor Anthony had made him infuriated as his usually rather close friend.

Remus stared at him, pale and conflicted, as if he didn't know whether to get mad or upset. He opened his mouth to reply, but another voice interjected before the thin boy could.

"I don't care if you fight," came a low alto from the front of the room, where Professor Anthony was currently standing, "but please do so outside my classroom, because you're very annoying."

Sirius frowned and glared slightly at the older female before snapping, "Fine," at Remus and turning away. Just before he left the room, however, Anthony's voice came again.

"Remember, Mr. Black, tonight at eight."

"Right," replied Sirius, rolling his eyes and stalking out of the room. He stormed down the hallway for a few moments alone, before he heard the heavy footsteps of James following him. Sirius slowed down, sighing; he could feel his red-hot anger fading away into a dull irritation, and he wondered if he was calm enough to defend his case. But then again, it was James, who had been his best friend since forever, and James knew about Sirius' temper.

James didn't say anything at first, instead opting to walk alongside a sulking Sirius as the aforementioned boy made his way towards the dormitories.

"So," he began, his glasses flickering from the sunlight coming in from a nearby window, "We have to go to class."

"Sod class."

James nodded. "Okay. Then, what was that about? I thought you were getting along well with Remus."

Sirius came to a stop as he reached a deserted hallway near the common room. He suddenly found that he really didn't want to go back to the room, knowing that Remus would probably go up there during lunch to find him. Sirius looked up at James and quietly admitted, "I'm not, really. He just... had bad timing."

"I get it," James accepted with a smile, "Are you mad about something else? I mean, besides the detentions, obviously."

"No... no, everything's fine," denied Sirius. Then, frowning slightly, he continued, "I might be worried about the tryouts. I don't know. I just got mad at him. You know?"

"I know."

Sirius slid down the side of the stone wall until he came to a stop, leaning against the wall with his legs spread out. James sat down near him, cross-legged, and they both sat in a comfortable silence for awhile as Sirius' dull anger continued to fade even more. James pulled out a quill and began fiddling with it absently, twirling it around in his fingers nimbly.

"Remus is kind of weird, you know?"

Sirius glanced up from his gaze on the floor, and he frowned slightly at James. "Hey, I said I wasn't really mad at him. Bad day. We don't need to do the post-fight, talk-behind-the-other-guy's-back thing."

James snorted, looking very amused with Sirius' response, and he abruptly stopped twirling the quill. Laughing slightly, he added, "No, I wasn't trying to do the post-fight, talk-behind-the-other-guy's-back thing. Rather, I was doing the kind-of-worried, wonder-what-the-hell-is-going-on- with-the-other-guy thing."

"Just as long as we're clear," Sirius murmured, grinning. Then it faded. "What do you mean, worried?"

At this, James began to look a bit nervous: his shoulders tensed and he began rolling the quill around in his hands pensively. He looked up at Sirius, hazel eyes flickering slightly, and said, "Well, you know how he's always talking about his mother's sickness?"

"Yeah."

James bit his lip. "Have you ever thought... maybe... that he might have it, too?"

Sirius raised and eyebrow and didn't say anything, opting for a quizzical expression. It was true, he had sometimes wondered why it was that when Remus left to go home, that he would come back looking haggard and wan. And he was sick much more than any of the other kids in their year - or at least, he had been last year; Sirius wasn't sure quite yet if that had changed.

In any case, James continued hastily, "Well, see, I've been noticing this since Christmas break last year, or sometime around then. He gets sick a lot, you know? And he tries to play it down, but I think he got sick at least four or five times last year. And his mother's sick, too, so I thought that maybe he was spending too much time with her or something, and that he's caught it, too." Then, sighing, James asked, "You think I'm overreacting, don't you?"

"No," Sirius answered, "I'm just trying to come up with another answer besides that. Because, didn't Remus say that his mother's disease was genetic, or something? I think he said it wasn't contagious."

"To us, and he only said that 'cause Peter was getting worried whenever Remus came back about getting germs," James clarified, "Besides, Remus could still have it. He's her son. What if it's a family thing? He did have two relatives die last year."

"From accidents, didn't he say? Besides," Sirius murmured, furrowing his eyebrows, "why wouldn't he get help? Or at least talk to us about it?"

James sniffed. "Because it's Remus, and you know how secretive he can get. And he doesn't like people worrying over him, which is why you two get on each other's nerves sometimes."

"What?" Sirius eyes, his eyes widening. "What do you mean by that?"

James smirked and clopped Sirius in the shoulder lightly, baring a rather toothy grin as he did so. "You're such a protective guy sometimes, Sirius. Crazy and wild and completely nutters, but you always notice if something is different with one of your friends. And then you ask questions and want to know exactly what the problem is, and it drives Remus mad, because he's the type of guy to figure it out for himself, you know?"

Sirius bristled. "So that fight was my fault, is that what you're saying?" He glared at his scrawny best friend, sniffing righteously in agitation.

"No, no," James laughed, waving his hands in an attempt to get Sirius to calm down. "That was not what I meant. I'm just saying, Remus likes to work things out on his own. He probably wouldn't talk to anyone if he was feeling ill." Then, smirking, he added, "And you are too protective, like a bloody dog sometimes, I swear..."

Sirius chose not to dignify that comment with a response, though he made a face and stuck his tongue out at James anyway. Then, opting a pensive expression, Sirius murmured, "He might be trying to deny it himself. 'Cause if he sees his mother dying from this illness, and then he gets it... I'd be upset. I wouldn't want to think about it, you know, because then I could pretend it wasn't true."

James looked surprised, and then raised his eyebrow appreciatively. "That was really deep, Sirius. I didn't know you could be that smart."

"Shut it, you git," Sirius replied, smacking James lightly on the head for good measure.

"But you might be right, you know," James continued, smirking at Sirius. "It must be horrible, knowing that your mother is dying and you can't do a thing to save her. That's not even thinking of if he's sick or not. I... I don't think I would be able to stand it if my mother was dying."

Sirius smiled sadly at his hazel-eyed friend. "I don't think your mother would go out easily. She's so stubborn."

"Nah, you just don't know when to quit."

"Heh, and you do?"

"Never said that, now did I?" At this, James looked down the hallway, checking to see if a teacher was coming. Satisfied that they were alone - though, with Filch in the hallways, it was probably only a matter of time -, James lay down on his back, his arms crossed behind his head. "Maybe he isn't sick, then. Maybe he's just upset about his mother."

"Maybe he's just weird," added Sirius somewhat humorously. James gave a half-laugh, but didn't reply.

"He should come to us, though," Sirius continued softly, looking at the ground with a frown. "We're his friends, right? Maybe he's not best friends with either of us - or Peter - but we're still there for him."

James shook his head. "He won't. We might have to talk to him about it first."

"Yeah."

They both fell silent, Sirius staring at a tree through the window and James looking at ceiling. Sirius was thinking about James had said, and how he would feel if it was his mother, not Remus', who was dying. His mother was controlling sometimes, and she didn't approve of his long hair or hyperactive nature - she preferred his calmer, sweeter younger brother, Sirius could tell -, but he still loved her. It would hurt a lot if she was to get sick. Sirius knew that if it was his mother, he would probably go home every month, too - every two weeks, even! For a relative to die... it would be hard.

"Oi, James?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's go back to the dorm, and look up that charm we're missing the lesson on now. What was it? The hair cutting one?"

"Sure," James replied, sitting up and yawning. "I know where it is, too. My mother made me look it up."

"Heh," Sirius teased, snickering. "Aren't you a mama's boy?"

"'Heh,' yourself, you git," muttered James, "It was for you."

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Quidditch tryouts came much too quickly for Sirius' taste, especially considering that he had two nights of detention in which he couldn't practice. Luckily, despite being creepy and quiet - and a vampire - Professor Anthony didn't give him that harsh a detention. She made him write an essay on the feeding habits of vampires, which was rather easy, considering that they had just gone over it in class. (And, Sirius noted, kind of disturbing to write.) The second day, he had scrubbed the desks in her classroom top and bottom, without magic: also very easy, as his mother always did stuff without magic and made him do the same. While he had done this, the red-haired teacher had sat at her desk and graded papers silently, sipping every so often from a goblet of pumpkin juice (or blood. Sirius never did figure that out.)

But, in any case, the tryouts approached rapidly, much too rapidly, until they were there. The morning of the tryouts - they were on a Saturday, thankfully, meaning that Sirius didn't have to worry himself sick while having Durkham breath down his neck about some random potion that Sirius couldn't care less about - Sirius was fretting so much that he couldn't eat anything. James was pretty much the same, making Remus and Peter snicker quite obviously behind their hands. Sirius was too nervous to get back at them for it, though he made sure to mark it down on his mental list of Things to Do Once Back in Normal State of Mind. (Luckily, he had apologized for snapping at Remus the night after his first detention, and Remus had graciously accepted his apology. It was so much easier to apologize to Remus than to Peter, who always seemed to hold a grudge for a week before getting lonely and coming back.)

But! Said things didn't matter, currently. Quidditch mattered. James would agree completely.

"Don't worry so much," advised Remus as he heartily applied some raspberry jelly to his toast. "You'll both do fine."

James and Sirius, as one, turned to glare at their thin friend, who winced at the sudden attention.

"Okay, fine, don't listen to me, but you know I'm right," Remus muttered, rolling his eyes and taking a bite of his food. "Besides," he continued when he had swallowed, "You'll have friends in the stands."

"Remus and I are coming, remember?" Peter commented, stabbing a sausage expertly with his fork. "We're going to cheer you on."

"Exactly," agreed Remus, nodding.

"Yeah, right," Sirius responded sarcastically at his brown-haired friend, "Please, Remus. You won't be watching. You'll be reading, and you know it."

"No, I'll be watching," Remus defended himself, "because I just spent last night rereading that Quidditch book that Peter lent me, and I do not intend to waste what I learned."

James smirked. "Translation: he'll watch for about five minutes before getting utterly bored and reading the book on Ancient Egyptian Wizards that he has tucked in his bag right now."

Remus blushed brightly as James leveled a knowing stare at Remus' knapsack, and smiled sheepishly as the others started laughing. He probably didn't mind too much, Sirius figured as he snickered at Remus, because the laughter was a great tension reliever. For about ten minutes after laughing at Remus, the group of boys were able to talk like it was just a normal Saturday, instead of one of the most important Saturdays that year. They avoided talking about Quidditch in general, instead deciding to discuss possible ideas for later pranks - after the success of the Niffler prank, they were all ready for another one, even though Remus suggested avoiding Snape for awhile and James said that he didn't want to do anything they had already succeeded in doing. Peter had a good idea of trying to charm the chalkboards in the Potions classroom, which Sirius leapt upon instantly, because he could never turn down an opportunity to put one past Durkham.

Unfortunately, the conversation was cut short as the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, a certain seventh-year Chaser named Rodney Wells, the talents of whom both James and Sirius claimed to worship, stood up in front of the Great Hall and addressed those at the Gryffindor table. (Those at the Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff tables ignored him; their tryouts had already passed.)

"All right," Rodney said, and everyone could see that he was already dressed in the maroon and gold Quidditch robes, "For those people trying out for the team this year, the tryouts are going to start in a half an hour. Regular robes should be fine, and anyone who doesn't know where the changing rooms are can follow me now. All right, then. We're off." He tapped his head to the side, and three people seated nearest to him stood up to follow him: Amanda Adkins, a Beater; Inius Sheldon, the Keeper; and the Seeker, a thin, pale-faced boy named Archilles Nesius.

Sirius turned and faced James, who looked almost as nervous as Sirius felt. "I'm going to be sick," he muttered.

"Me, too," came James' aghast response.

There was a great sigh from across the table, and suddenly a hand grabbed Sirius by the shoulder, attempting to push him up.

"C'mon, you cowards, let's go," Remus said, exasperation evident in his voice. "It's just Quidditch tryouts, not your N.E.W.T.s."

"Just Quidditch tryouts?" James gasped, outraged.

"These tryouts are the most important part of our LIVES right now!" Sirius agreed strongly, glaring at the person who dared suggest such a ludicrous, outrageous thing as Quidditch tryouts not being that important. Said person sighed.

"I didn't mean it that way," denied Remus, holding his hands up as if to defend a physical blow. "All I meant was that you guys are ready for this. You both love Quidditch. If this was the N.E.W.T.s, you'd both die. But this is just Quidditch."

"Yeah," Peter supported, "You play it practically all the time."

"And talk about it any time you're not playing it."

"So you should be fine," Peter finished.

With those parting words of support, Peter and Remus waved goodbye to their two Quidditch-playing friends, promising to sit up in the stands and watch them after breakfast. James and Sirius waved back, the former smiling slightly and the latter nervously running his hand through his long-ish hair. (It actually wasn't quite as long as Sirius wanted; he truly wanted it to be down to his shoulders, but his mother had threatened to disown him if he did, so Sirius figured that just past the ears was good enough for now. He'd grow it longer when he was older, and he grew even more rebellious. He'd have a verifiable excuse then, being a teenager and all.)

It didn't take them long to reach the locker rooms, as they both knew exactly where the rooms were and were walking rather quickly. Only a few other people were in there, but Sirius knew that they were early, so he didn't allow his hopes to get up. (Especially when he saw Marcius Wendt, who was a complete flop at flying and had the worst coordination Sirius has ever seen. Why he was there, Sirius couldn't tell, though he suspected it was because Marcius' best friend, Cassidy Stenzel, was probably trying out as well. She was much better, and actually made Sirius nervous about his chances.)

"Oi, James," whispered Sirius as he pulled on a set of practice robes.

"Oi," was the reply.

"Let's help each other, okay?" Sirius suggested, and he looked over at Marcius and the other two boys in the room shooting each other suspicious glares. Turning back to James, he continued, "We should both try our best and stuff. To both make the team and completely humiliate everyone else."

James snickered into his hand, trying to pull on his own robes without getting them caught on his glasses. He managed, but wound up messing up his hair even worse than it had already been. Sirius laughed at his best friend's antics, making James laugh harder himself, and in the end, both boys were practically doubled over with hysterical laughter. The other boys in the room turned to stare at them, baffled.

"God, but we are nutters, aren't we?" Sirius choked out. James collapsed on a bench, nodding.

"Stark raving mad; right you are," his hazel-eyed best friend snickered.

Despite making such a scene in the changing room - Sirius heard a few of the other players muttering about "annoying little second-years," a comment which he cherished heartily -, James and Sirius were out on the field in plenty of time to warm up. James, the lucky jerk, had a brand-new Nimbus 100, which - Sirius had been informed - was brand new on the market and could only be bought by special order. Despite not having horribly rich parents that spoiled him rotten like James, Sirius himself had a Comet 260, a fairly nice broom, with excellent brake control and sharp mobility. "Besides," Sirius told James even as he stared enviously at the Nimbus 100 in the other boy's hand, "my Comet is already worn in properly. How many times have you flown that, twice?"

"I make up for lack of wear in talent, my good friend," James answered with a haughty air, though a faint blush appeared on his cheeks.

They flew around aimlessly for awhile, doing a few dives and swerves and generally looking very impressive for a couple of "annoying little second- years." (Sirius, for the record, made sure to almost knock the boy who said that off his broom as he zoomed by. Served the snobby git right.) But soon, all of those trying out were called down from the sky and given directions. Muttering astonishingly about the turnout this year, Rodney Wells separated the crowd into five groups of three, instructing them that they would all play with the team for ten minutes each, and then switch. "With variations," Rodney added, "as some drills don't need everyone and we need some difference in judging. Now, to it!"

James and Sirius, both being in the fifth and final group, sat down sighing as they watched the others prepare to take off around them. Irritated about the long wait - "What was the point of warming up at all," Sirius had whined, "if we're going to sit down for forty minutes and watch the other people play?" -, they lounged lazily on the grass about fifteen feet away from the other people waiting. Up in the stands, Remus had pulled out a book - "If he doesn't watch when we go, he's getting a Dungbomb in his bed, I swear," muttered James - and Peter was currently half-watching the tryouts and half-talking to a group of first years who had turned up as well.

Luckily, despite being prime for a severe bout of boredom, both James and Sirius were well-prepared for a possible long wait. And so, about thirty minutes or so later, they were engaged in a ferocious battle of wits while watching the tryouts go on around them absently.

"Ontario," answered Sirius calmly.

"Oh, great, give me another 'O'..." muttered his bespeckled friend. "Well, let's see here... Oakland."

Sirius frowned, contemplating his remaining choices for the letter 'D.' The beginning of the game had gone on rather easily for the first twenty minutes, but after that point, both boys were struggling with the few places they had left. It was a game they always played when they were bored together and stuck in one place - such as, for instance, oddly boring Quidditch tryouts - and the many years of playing against one another had proven to make each Gryffindor exceptionally skilled at the game.

"Ah! Dublin," Sirius came up with suddenly.

"Nepal," was James' lazy answer - he must have had that one saved up, Sirius concluded - as the messy-haired boy glanced over at the tryouts once more. A small, scrawny-looking fourth-year flew too low and got grazed by a Bludger; he toppled painfully from his broom and hit the sand hard. Luckily, it was low, and he got up slowly, but James still winced and, with a low hiss, muttered, "Has to hurt, that." James grinned over at Sirius and exclaimed, "But isn't it great? Barely any of these people are much good, y'know?"

"Yeah," agreed Sirius with a distracted air, as he was still trying to come up with an answer for the letter 'L.' He had used up most of his usual resources for that letter, and could only thank God that it wasn't an 'A' or 'E', as those were some of the hardest to find answers for after about twenty minutes. "Er... wait, let me think for a second..."

"I'm not rushing you," James replied with a grin, "but remember, if you don't think of one before we get called, I win. Heh."

"I know, you prat; now stop talking!" snapped Sirius without malice, and then he continued, "Er... well... ah! Got it! London Bridge."

"What?" gaped James. "That's not fair! You already said 'London'!"

It was Sirius' turn to smirk. "That isn't London, it's London Bridge! There's a difference!"

"There is not; it's just London with another word tacked on," defended James. "You cheated!"

"Did not; it's a place! It's even in that song, you know? 'London Bridge is falling down, falling down, fall-’"

"Oh, fine," acquiesced James with a heavy sigh, "I'll give it to you, if only to make you stop singing; gods, but Remus is right, you are horrible."

"Since when has Remus been complaining about my singing?" Sirius queried blankly, as James furrowed his brow.

"Great, now I have an 'E', right? Let's see here..."

"Has Remus even heard me sing before?" continued Sirius with a frown. "It's just odd, you know...?"

"Er... Eli!" James proclaimed, "Eli, Minnesota."

Sirius blinked, staring at James with a puzzled expression on his face. "Er, James, since when do you know anything about Minnesota?"

"It's a small town up near the Canadian border," James replied with the pompous air of someone who knows he's right. "Remus has a cousin there, remember? He was talking about it last year; said the poor bloke died in a skiing accident and he needed to leave school to go to his funeral."

"How the bloody hell can you remember so far back?" Sirius asked, incredulous. At James' snicker, Sirius rolled his eyes and contemplated on the letter 'I', which he knew was going to difficult. Surprisingly, however, he came upon a possibility fairy quickly and, with a smirk, responded, "Isles, British."

"That's cheating!"

"All right," the resounding call of Rodney Wells echoed, "It's time for the last set of three! Come on, now, we need to hurry this up!"

"Draw?" Sirius offered quickly as he stood up, eyebrows raised.

"Ugh, fine," agreed James resentfully, sighing. As he likewise got up, Sirius could hear him mutter, "You were so cheating..."

"Was not," Sirius hissed back quietly, getting on his broom.

"Was too,"

"Not!" And before James could answer to that, Sirius shot off into the sky, awaiting instructions.

They played for a few minutes with relatively few incidents - the person they were with, a chubby fifth-year girl with bright red hair named Morgan was decent, and this was good, because it meant that she was able to send some nice passes over to James, who was currently playing Chaser. Sirius was Beater for awhile, and then they switched positions around, so that both James and Sirius were Chasers. The two boys made eye contact and Sirius grinned; they were doing superbly as far as he could tell, and considering the real lack of competition - only a few of the previous people to try-out were really any good - it was looking like they had a fairly good chance of making the team.

Sirius zoomed around on his broomstick and positioned himself properly as James sent a nice pass over to Rodney. He was just above the stands, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Remus smiling up at them, his book laying forgotten by his feet. Peter was a few stands over, having gone off with the first-year boys for awhile, and though Sirius had some difficulty seeing the slightly pudgy boy, he just managed, even as he turned slightly to watch the play better.

"Oh! Oh, oops!" a cry came out of nowhere, and with a sinking feeling, Sirius turned to see Morgan staring in horror in his general direction. A second later, he saw why; a Bludger had flown wayward of its original destination - Sirius assumed it was himself - and was currently zooming at top speed towards the stands.

Towards Remus.

Reacting with a speed that he hadn't even known he had, Sirius whipped around on his broom and flew desperately at the stands, trying to get at and angle that he could knock the Bludger away before it hit the seats. Remus, he briefly noted in the back of his mind, had stood up, but was moving too slowly; the Bludger flew right at him, and at just the last second Sirius darted in front of it and hit it forcefully with the palm of his hands, changing its angle just enough so it would miss the stands and fly off in the sky. However, his broom had slid too far up, and Sirius could feel himself falling-

Abruptly, Sirius felt a sharp crack in the back of his head; a sudden, shooting pain; and then it all went black.

________________________________

He felt fuzzy.

He was laying down, he knew, and though he was moderately comfortable, he was rather confused about what had happened. His eyes were closed, which was good, because as he grew more aware of his surroundings - he was in a bed, he could tell, under a scratchy blanket -, the faded light of day through his eyelids made his head start to throb painfully. Briefly, he wondered what had happened: he remembered chasing a Bludger, slipping from his broom and then...?

"So they're going to be okay?" an anxious voice questioned from beside Sirius' head, causing the dully throbbing headache to expand into a full- force migraine. "I mean, nothing bad really happened, just-"

"I already told you, Mr. Potter, they'll be fine," a crisp, female voice replied to Sirius' best friend, the voice of whom Sirius had just placed moments before the woman had said the name. "When they wake up, I'll give them a potion for the pain and concussion, and they will be perfectly fine by tomorrow."

"You're sure, then?" came the quivering, worried voice that Sirius recognized as Peter's.

"Of course I'm sure," the witch said again, sounding extremely exasperated, "Now, you two should either be quiet or leave, as you're disturbing my other patients." The sound of robes swishing around and heels tapping off informed Sirius that the medi-witch - Madam Pomfry, he knew - had moved off.

Deciding that now was as good a time as ever to open his eyes - and knowing full well that his curiosity about what had happened was going to overcome him any second if he didn't - Sirius moaned slightly and brought a hand up to grip his throbbing head. Forcing his eyes open, Sirius hissed at the sudden bright light, but murmured, "Oi. What happened?"

"You're awake!" a voice chirped excitedly, the loud sound ringing harshly in Sirius' ears.

"Shut up, Peter," James snapped, "he has a concussion!"

"Oh, sorry," replied the smaller boy with a blush.

Sirius sat up, rubbing his head to try and calm down the pain - it wasn't working - and he turned to look at his best friend, who was currently watching him anxiously. "So, what happened?" Sirius repeated vaguely.

"Oh, you got knocked out," James said simply. "Collided heads with Remus; he's in the next bed over. Hasn't woken up yet."

"Oh?" Sirius blinked a few times, and then looked over his shoulder and tried to see the so-called unconscious boy. He couldn't.

"Yeah," James continued, not noticing, "It was kind of scary for awhile, because Remus cut his forehead in the process and there was blood everywhere, but Rodney conjured up some sort of stretcher and rushed both of you up here. Tryouts were nearly over anyway, so he just called it over and said that results would be posted tomorrow, you know?" James was flushed, looking as if he was reliving the excitement of the experience; despite his headache, Sirius found himself smiling slightly and getting kind of interested.

"We were both knocked out?" Sirius asked for confirmation.

"Oh, yeah," James supplied, "it was really neat."

"It was scary," corrected Peter, looking at James with what would be a reproachful expression if Peter wasn't too apprehensive to do something like that. "I was afraid you both had died, the way you fell. Remus just collapsed; it was like... like..."

"Like someone had knocked him out?" James finished sarcastically, smirking in Peter's direction. Then, turning back to Sirius, he added, "Ah, but yeah, it was kind of freaky. I thought the Bludger had hit you for a second before seeing it come back. Archilles stopped it before it could do anymore damage."

"Neat," Sirius said with a grin, having gotten used to trying to ignore his headache. Then, frowning slightly, he murmured, "Though I bet my chances for making the team are pretty much shot, right? I mean, I got knocked out during tryouts..."

"Not really," James corrected quickly, smiling. "I heard Amanda and Inius talking about that dive you made to deflect the Bludger after you got up here. It was incredible, really, and they said that they'd have looked at you for Seeker if they didn't already have Archilles."

"They were all really impressed with it, actually," Peter supported, nodding and grinning brightly in Sirius' direction."

"Yeah, so maybe, if you think about it, you could get reserve Seeker even if you didn't make the team. Archilles a seventh-year, so-"

"Mr. Potter!" a new voice snapped, and Sirius looked up to see Madam Pomfry standing by his bed, looking at James with a disapproving glare. "Why didn't you see fit to inform me that one of my patients had woken up? Out with both of you, now; I said you could stay until at least one woke up, and you did. Now you should both leave; Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin are going to spend the night in the ward so I can keep an eye on them." When James and Peter didn't move - too startled, Sirius figured - Pomfry bristled and snapped, "Now! Out with you!"

After James and Peter had left, and Sirius - irritably - had swallowed a potion meant to sustain pain and swelling for those concussed, Pomfry looked down at him and instructed, "Now, you try and get some sleep; I'll be waking you in about three hours to see how you're doing." With that, she turned and walked off, leaving Sirius feeling rather alone and annoyed. As if he could sleep while his headache was still throbbing; the potion was taking a little too long to work for Sirius' comfort.

Suddenly remembering Remus, Sirius turned awkwardly in his bed to try and get a glimpse of his similarly concussed friend. It took a bit of maneuvering, but finally Sirius was able to see Remus' pale face lying on the bed to the right of Sirius' own. The thin boy had the faint outline of a cut on his forehead - Sirius knew that by morning, even the cut would be gone, and marveled briefly about the efficiency of healing spells - and looked a bit ill.

"Madam Pomfry," called Sirius curiously, "Are you sure Remus is okay? He looks a bit off."

"Yes, yes, he's fine," the woman replied distractedly, "Now go to sleep. That potion I gave should have some sleep-inducing effects in it; you shouldn't be fighting them."

Sure enough, Sirius could feel his eyelids beginning to grow heavy - his headache had vanished sometime before, without him noticing - and Sirius figured that Pomfry was probably right: fighting the potion was rather useless. He laid down in the bed and curled up in a ball, waiting for the heavy blanket of sleep to overcome him.

It was through this hazy half-sleep that Sirius heard something, but couldn't quite place it; he wasn't aware of just how much time had passed before he did so, but he was just about to go to sleep when a faded, whispered conversation graced his ears, as if a dream.

"...said I'm fine, really," a voice murmured, sounding vaguely defensive.

"You're ill," apprised another, "and you have a concussion. Now, you should..." The voice faded slightly, but Sirius caught the rest, "...horrible that you have to be here, the day before your Change..."

"I'm fine," the first voice insisted. "It was just a ..." Another fade-out, but then, just before Sirius completely fell asleep, "...don't have to worry about that until tomorrow night, so please stop..."

And then Sirius slept.

______________________________________

"What an irritating night," griped Sirius, annoyance fresh on his voice. "Pomfry kept waking me up, insisting on forcing more potions and whathaveyou down my throat, even though I felt fine; and I swear, she didn't do that to Remus! I didn't even get to talk to him until I came down to breakfast this morning; he left before me, because Pomfry insisted on checking me 'just once more' before I left. Gah!" He gestured dramatically to James, who nodded sympathetically. "I mean, really, I'm fine! Doesn't she trust her own skills?"

"Guess not," James murmured, shrugging, as he sunk slightly lower in the cushy maroon chair by the fire. It was just after dinner, and they were in the Common room, feigning relaxation while they waited for Rodney Wells and the other members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team to come out and post the results of the tryouts. Sirius and James, having both mastered the ability to look incredibly calm when they wanted - though James did it better -, looked rather collected about the whole ordeal, though Sirius knew his stomach was clenched in nervousness. It was better than a few of the other kids around the area, though; a third-year boy was practically in hysterics, he was so nervous, and a fourth-year girl was tapping her foot against the leg of a table loudly, as if twitching.

"He wasn't mad, right?" James asked, obviously referring to Remus. Said boy was up in the dormitory at the moment - Sirius had assumed, as Remus hadn't been at dinner and wasn't in the library, where both James and Sirius had left Peter about a half an hour ago - and James, having missed breakfast to finish an assignment for Transfiguration, was curious about the thin boy's reaction.

"No, of course not," recalled Sirius. "He said it wasn't my fault, which it wasn't, so it was all okay. It would have been annoying if he was mad, you know, but it's Remus, so... yeah. He was fine with it. Besides, I did it to help him, and he knew it."

James nodded, and then added curiously, "Didn't you think he looked a bit off today, though?"

"Yeah, so?" Sirius muttered. "He just got over a concussion, of course he's going to be a bit off. I mean, you know me; I've had at least ten concussions in my life, but I bet he hasn't."

"I suppose," James agreed hesitantly, shrugging, "but I thought he looked kind of sick..."

Sirius had meant to reply to James' comment, but at that exact moment, a flurry of excitement sounded through the room as Rodney, Amanda, Inius and Archilles walked through, heading towards the message board. Tacking a sheet of parchment up on the board, Rodney turned and addressed the rest of the Common room: "All right," he stated clearly, "These are the results of the tryouts. Don't get mad if you didn't make it, because we went through this plenty of times and have made our decision. We don't want to hear any complaints or get any backlash if you weren't chosen." With that, the four Quidditch players walked away from the board, and a massive flow of people ran towards it, James and Sirius included.

Being rather small - considering that all of the people in the group were either their age or older - James and Sirius weren't able to see the sheet immediately. Sirius was taller, though, so he craned his neck eagerly to try and see over the shoulders of the people in front of him; around him, he could hear some scattered moans of disappointment and even a girl burst into tears. Suddenly, the person in front of him shifted over, and Sirius could just catch a glimpse of the parchment, which read:

The new members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team are as follows:

1) Sirius Black ...... Beater
2) Addison Otopolik ...... Chaser
3) James Potter ........ Chaser

Thank you for trying out, and if you didn't make it, feel free to try again next year. Congratulations to those who made the team.

For exactly three seconds, Sirius froze, stunned. He could feel James tugging at his robes, asking if he could see, but he barely noticed. He made it? He made it! They made it!

"WE DID IT!" Sirius yelled loudly, jumping and pumping his fist in the air.

"What?!" James asked, eyes wide in excitement. Around them, the other people who hadn't made the team stared at them, and Sirius heard one of them mutter, "The second-years made it?" with disbelief in his voice.

"We did it!" Sirius repeated, ignoring the crowd around them and staring into James' hazel eyes. "We made the team! I'm a Beater! You're Chaser! We did it!"

"YES!"

Excitement was too weak a word for what Sirius felt at that moment, and even exhilaration was barely strong enough. Both he and James leapt for joy, grabbing onto each other's arms, sharing the utter rapture of being chosen for the Quidditch team between them. The crowd around them dispersed as the remaining people saw the sheet and turned away, disappointed - though Sirius another girl having quite a similar reaction to them, a dark- haired fourth-year with black square glasses. It was obviously the third one chosen, Addison Otopolik.

"This is amazing!" James crowed loudly, grinning so largely it looked like it would break his face.

"I'm going to go tell Remus!" Sirius answered with equal excitement, "You tell Peter, okay?!"

"Right!"

With that, the two boys dashed in different directions; Sirius practically sprinted up the stairs to their dormitory, taking the steps two at a time. He had to skid to a stop before his door, gasping for breath, and lunged for the doorway. Opening the door, he jumped quickly inside.

"Rem! Remus!" Sirius chirped immediately, grinning widely, "Guess what, Remus?!"

No one was there.

"...Remus?" Sirius called again, his smile fading slightly. The room appeared empty, and from his position at the door, Sirius could see that all of the curtains to the beds were wide open. "Remus? Are you here?" Sirius walked over to the loo, wondering if his brown-haired friend had just been caught at an ill-begotten time, but the door was open, and neither of the two shower stalls were on. Even James's Invisibility Cloak was still there, Sirius noted, as he looked over to see it still draped on the side of his best friend's bed.

"Remus?" queried Sirius once more, tentatively, his smile gone and replaced by a worried frown.

But Remus wasn't there.