Only Time

Chapter Ten

"Hello, and welcome to the first Quidditch match of the year! Today is Gryffindor versus Slytherin, so let's see exactly what Slytherin will do to cheat this--"

"Pettigrew!"

Peter coughed. "Let's see how the game will turn out! Playing for Gryffindor, we have captain Potter, then Lucas, Black, Shacklebolt, Whitby, Edgecoombe, aaaaand...Logan!"

The seven members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team zoomed out onto the pitch, James in the lead with his fellow Chasers Jordan Lucas, a fifth year, and Sirius Black right behind him, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Erica Whitby, both sixth-year Beaters, behind them, Lily's friend Anne Edgecoombe the Keeper and Amanda Logan the Seeker bringing up the rear together. As one, the team flew up and did a warm-up lap around the pitch while they waited for Peter to announce the Slytherin team.

"And for the Slytherin team, we have captain Baddock, then Snape, Crouch, Pritchard, Jacobs, Black, aaaaaaand...Higgs!" Peter announced, and the Slytherin stands applauded wildly as their team flew out in the same formation the Gryffindors used. They too flew a warm-up lap around the pitch before both teams landed and approached their referee, Madam Hooch. Out of the corner of his eye, James could see Sirius and his brother Regulus glaring at each other. This was only the second year Regulus had been on the Slytherin team, though the fifth for Sirius, and last year anti-sibling rivalries had apparently been running high. What with Sirius being a Chaser and Regulus being a Keeper...things had gotten dirty last year, and James didn't think their relations would improve this year.

Madam Hooch had the team captains step up and shake hands, which James and Slytherin captain Robert Baddock did quickly, not wanting to touch each other for longer than they had to. At least Snape's not the captain, James thought as he stepped away from Baddock. I don't know if even washing my hands would be able to get rid of the grease.

"Mount your brooms!" Madam Hooch told the teams. Then, at her blown whistle, James pushed off, infinitely glad to be flying again. The wind in his hair, the broom beneath him, his teammates and opponents arrayed around him...there were few things James loved more than flying, and he was never reminded of that so much as when he was playing Quidditch.

"And they're off! Potter has the Quaffle, passes to Black, who ducks under Slytherin Beater Pritchard. He passes to Lucas, who approaches the scoring area--oh, that's gotta hurt!" James winced in sympathy as a Bludger slammed into Jordan Lucas's elbow, causing him to drop the Quaffle. He rubbed it a bit, then moved it around, and nodded at James, who nodded back. Just bruised, James thought. It's just bruised now, and he'll be fine.

"And Slytherin Chaser Snape has the Quaffle. He's taking it down to the Gryffindor side of the pitch, ducks under a Bludger, passes to Crouch who passes it back. Snape is within the scoring area, he shoots, and...intercepted! Gryffindor Captain Potter stole the Quaffle from right in front of the greasy git, and serves him right!" Peter yelled as the Gryffindors in the stands cheered.

"Pettigrew!" Professor McGonagall scolded. Peter just shrugged unapologetically and resumed his commentary. James smirked at Snape, who was so busy glaring at him that he'd missed what Peter had said.

"And Potter's taking it back down the field. Slytherin Beater Jacobs slams a Bludger at him, but Potter dodges and passes to Lucas, who zooms right past the Slytherin captain Baddock. She passes to Black, who is now within the scoring area. Gryffindor Chaser Black shoots, Slytherin Keeper Black dives, and...he misses! The score is now ten-zero for Gryffindor!" Peter announced as the Gryffindor stands erupted. Their cheers were nearly drowned out by the boos of the Slytherins. Sirius took a victory lap around the pitch, grinning, while his brother Regulus glared at him darkly.

As he flew, James looked around for that bright spot of brilliant red hair in the Gryffindor stands...and there she was. James flew past her, grinning. Lily only rolled her eyes, then smiled back at him. Grinning inwardly as well as outwardly, James turned his attention back to the game, where Bartemius Crouch was passing to Baddock.

"And Baddock shoots, Gryffindor Keeper Edgecoombe dives, and...wait a minute, is that the snitch?" All eyes turned to where Amanda Logan and Darren Higgs were racing towards the Slytherin goalposts. Anne Edgecoombe, distracted from her position, stopped diving and the Quaffle fell into one of the hoops. James made a mental note to talk to her about not letting the snitch distract her from her job, even as he himself watched the two Seekers racing to the snitch. James could just barely make it out, a little glint of gold hovering about two or three feet to the left of Regulus Black.

Then, from out of nowhere, a Bludger came hurtling at smashed into Amanda's broom, causing it to spin off course right into Higgs's. They both clutched at their broom, but in the time it took for them to get straightened out and back on task, the snitch had disappeared again, and normal play resumed.

"During that sighting of the snitch, Baddock scored a goal, so the score is now ten-ten," Peter announced. "Gryffindor Chaser Lucas takes the Quaffle back down the field, passes to Potter, who bears down on the Slytherin Keeper. He dodges a Bludger, loops around Snape, shoots, and...he scores! Twenty-ten to Gryffindor! Take that, you nasty Slytherins!"

"PETTIGREW! If you can't commentate an unbiased game--" Professor McGonagall threatened, and Peter nodded.

"Right, right, you won't pay me. Anyways, Snape takes the Quaffle..." And the game went on. And on. And on. After that first sighting of the snitch ten minutes into the game, it seemed to completely disappear, even three hours later. Gryffindor had pulled into the lead by two hundred points, because after every goal scored, Regulus would get more and more enraged until he was focusing more on the Chaser than the Quaffle. It was now 250-50, and after the twenty-fifth goal scored, the Slytherin team called a time out. And apparently whatever Baddock had yelled at Regulus worked, because once everyone flew up to take their positions again and play resumed, only a few more goals got past him.

An hour later, Gryffindor was in the lead by only 170 points, and James was getting tired. About half an hour before, a Bludger had slammed into his leg, and while it didn't get more than bruised, his leg throbbed every time he moved it. He was just glad that they were flying, where he didn't have to use his leg much.

"And Crouch scores again, leaving the score now 280-120. Lucas takes the Quaffle back, and--the Seekers are diving again! Have they spotted the snitch?" Peter yelled, and again all play stopped as everyone watched the two Seekers hurtling towards the ground. Amanda's arm was outstretched, reaching for the little golden ball hovering just inches above the grass, but then Higgs's arm knocked hers out of the way and his fist closed around the snitch.

"And Slytherin Seeker Higgs gets the snitch, but Gryffindor wins the game! The ending score is 280-270! That's really too bad, Slytherin, but you're going to have to play better than that to get one over on our Chasers!" Peter shouted happily as the people in the Gryffindor stands spilled onto the field in order to congratulate their team.

James lowered himself to the ground, not sure of what to feel. They won the game, but Slytherin got the snitch...too bad Professor Patterson had refused to give Amanda any pointers...he'd been amazing when James saw him fly...

"You played very well," a quiet voice said in his ear, and surprised, James spun around to see Lily standing right behind him. "After all, it was because of you Chasers that we won. And don't you dare get a big head from this."

James laughed, already cheered up. "Thanks Lily, and don't worry about it. It's really because of Regulus's temper problem that we had such an easy time scoring."

Laughing, Lily drew back, mock surprise on her face. "Don't tell me James Potter is acting humble now! I simply won't believe it."

"Believe what you will, Lily," James told her, eyes dancing behind his glasses. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must congratulate my team and console Amanda. She'll not be very happy that she didn't get the snitch."

Lily smiled. "I'll leave you to that, then. See you in the common room." She turned to leave, but suddenly turned back, reached up on her tiptoes, and kissed him on the cheek. James stared after her as she disappeared into the crowd, one hand coming up to touch the place she kissed him. Maybe she really does like me after all...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next weekend found the four boys on their way into Hogsmeade. It wasn't a Hogsmeade weekend, but that didn't stop them; it never did. Wormtail was perched on Remus's shoulder and Sirius was walking ahead as Padfoot while James and Remus matched their paces under the Cloak. It wouldn't fit all four of them under it anymore, so the two who could walk around without raised eyebrows in their Animagus forms did so.

They reached the mirror on the fourth floor where Padfoot was waiting for them. James took out his wand surreptitiously under the Cloak, tapping the mirror with it and whispering a charm. Then the four of them slipped into the mirror and came out in the tunnel behind it. Wormtail hopped off Remus's shoulder and became Peter, Padfoot became Sirius, and James and Remus took off the Invisibility Cloak, which James folded and stuck in his robes.

They lit their wands and walked the short trip to Hogsmeade, where they soon appeared in front of a wall in the alley between the Three Broomsticks and Gladrags Wizardwear. Making sure no one was looking, they stepped out of the alleyway and into the warmth and light of the Three Broomsticks.

James, Remus, and Peter chose a booth in the corner to sit while Sirius went off to get the butterbeers. Soon enough he found them, carrying the four butterbeers and setting them down on the table, his face a bit pale and his teeth clenched.

James was the first one to notice. "Sear, what's wrong? Why're you so pale?"

Sirius slid into a spot next to Remus, unclenching his teeth with an effort and taking a long drought of his butterbeer. "Mother's here," he muttered in a low voice, and James drew back in surprise.

"Your mother's here?" he hissed. "But she hates Hogsmeade! Says it's too close to Dumbledore the Muggle-lover! What's she doing here?"

"No idea," Sirius replied. "But I saw her here, with a bunch of people wearing black cloaks. Normally she'd never even set foot in a pub like the Three Broomsticks. Whenever she's forced to come to Hogsmeade, she goes to the Hog's Head. But she hasn't been to Hogsmeade since Regulus started Hogwarts."

"But she's here now, and in the Three Broomsticks, no less," Remus said thoughtfully. He turned to Sirius. "Where's she sitting?"

Sirius pointed to the opposite corner of the room, where James could just make out several figures in black cloaks huddled around a table, one looking surreptitiously around them every few minutes. One of them shifted, and James could just make out Sirius's mother in the gap, wearing a black cloak like the rest of them and leaning over a large roll of parchment lying in the middle of the table.

"So...she's here, which is a rare occurrence in and of itself, with several mysterious cloak people," James mused. "So...possible reasons she could be here. Visiting her children..."

"Not bloody likely," Sirius muttered, but James ignored him as he thought of more reasons she could be there.

"Meeting some friends...meeting some co-workers..." James continued, but Sirius interrupted him again.

"She doesn't have a job, James, how could she be meeting any bloody co-workers?" Sirius growled, but Remus hushed him when a few people from a table not far from theirs looked over.

"Co-workers...perhaps on orders from their boss..." James said significantly with a raised eyebrow. Sirius looked confused for a moment before his eyes widened. Then he looked a mixture of sad and angry.

"I'm not sure if my mother...has agreed to working for him yet," Sirius replied. "After all, it is a big commitment, and Mother is rather used to being the boss herself."

James nodded. Sirius would probably know if his mother is a Death Eater, James reasoned. But even if she's not, that doesn't preclude her from having Death Eater sympathies, or doing something to help them out if she thought it would benefit her too.

"What we need," Remus said, looking directly at Peter, "is a way to inconspicuously hear what they're saying..."

Grasping the idea quickly, Peter looked around at the rest of them. "You want Wormtail to see if he can hear their plans?" Peter offered. James considered the idea, then nodded sharply.

"But be careful," James cautioned. "Even a rat can still be seen and wondered about, especially in a nice pub like this one. Hide as close as you can without being seen, and as far as you can and still be able to hear."

"Sure thing," Peter said, then stood up. "I'll just be going to the loo then, won't be but a moment." Peter disappeared into the bathroom, but it was a small brown rat that left it and scampered off towards the huddle of black-cloaked figures. The remaining three boys leaned closer to each other so they could talk without being overheard by their neighbors.

"Sirius, do you think your mum would help Death Eater plans?" Remus asked quietly. Sirius nodded regretfully.

"She thinks that wacko has the right idea, you know. Just like Auntie Araminta--the one who tried to legalize Muggle-hunting. Mother would help You-Know...Voldemort in an instant, if he offered her something good enough," Sirius replied.

"What do you think he could offer her?" James asked, after wincing at Voldemort's name. I must stop doing that, James told himself. If Sirius and Professors Dumbledore and Patterson can say his name, so can I.

"Muggles to play with?" Remus suggested, but Sirius shook his head.

"No, she can get those herself easily enough," Sirius said disgustedly. "It has to be something she wouldn't ordinarily be able to get herself, but something she wants."

"But what could he offer a rich woman from an old respected pureblood family that she wouldn't be able to easily get herself?" James wondered aloud. Sirius and Remus looked at each other and shrugged, obviously unable to think of something either.

James carefully looked over to Mrs. Black's table again, but the positions of the black-cloaked figures didn't seem to have changed from the last time he had looked. He couldn't see Peter, but he figured that was all to the good. A good spy is the one you would never notice, after all, James thought. And Wormtail is most definitely unnoticeable.

James sipped his rapidly cooling butterbeer as he waited for Peter to come back, and Sirius and Remus followed suit. But after several minutes had passed, half his tankard of butterbeer was gone, and Peter still hadn't appeared, James was getting worried. What if something's happened to him? James thought anxiously. What if he was seen, or found out somehow, or--

James's frantic thoughts were interrupted as Peter himself appeared right in front of him, causing him to yelp and spill half of his remaining butterbeer on his robes. Glaring at the other three who were snickering, James stood up and let Peter back into the booth before sliding back in himself and wiping off the dripping butterbeer with a napkin.

"Did you find out something interesting for us, Pete?" Sirius asked as soon as Peter and James were settled and they were all leaning close again so the neighbors couldn't hear. Peter nodded.

"They're doing something on the Dark Lord's orders," Peter started, and the other three shared a nervous look between them. Sure, that's what they'd thought, but it was still disconcerting to be proven right about something like that.

"Did you find out what that was?" Remus asked, and Sirius and James leaned in closer to hear Peter's answer better.

"I found out a bit of it," Peter replied quietly. "That roll of parchment they were all pouring over--that was a map of Hogwarts. They're obviously going to be doing something which involves the school, and they need knowledge of where to go."

"But what would my mother be doing there, then? Why should she have anything to do with a plan involving Hogwarts?" Sirius asked, looking very frustrated, nervously chewing on his lip.

"I heard them mention James and how they would need him for something," at this, James's insides went cold, and Sirius and Remus turned a horrified look on their friend. Glancing at James apologetically, Peter continued. "They also mentioned Regulus, and how he had something to do."

"They want Regulus to do something?" Sirius asked, pulling his hair and not even noticing. "But that doesn't explain why my mother's involved. Even if they wanted her perfect son for something, they wouldn't need to go to her; they could just ask him and he would probably do it. And it doesn't give her a reason for agreeing."

Now Peter looked apologetically at Sirius. "You're right--they wouldn't need her for that, and she was going to refuse before she heard what they offered her for her help. Her reward is...you, Sirius. They're going to give you back to her."

Sirius paled.