Out of Time

The following few weeks were filled with studying, sleeping and more studying. Remus had heard many stories about how the seventh year was supposed to be, each story more unlikely than the other, but all the same, he'd been prepared to work hard anyway. It was harder for the other three guys. For Sirius and James it meant less time for Quidditch practices and pranks, and for Peter because he wouldn't get time to do anything but studying this year. Or so he said.

Remus had had very little time to talk to Lily. The only chances he'd gotten was before and after Muggle Studies and whenever they were discussing Head Student duties. In one way he thought this was just as well.

The Great Hall was almost empty as he and Peter came down for breakfast one day in late September. Sirius and James had left the common room ages before himself. They always did that before matches, to discuss the last minute tactics or whatever.

"How's the mood, guys?" Remus looked at the two boys as they sat down next to them. It was only another half hour before the first Quidditch game of the season and the team had quite a few new members.

James shook his head over his half-eaten piece of toast. "Not good," he said.

"Dreadful," Sirius corrected him, "but at least we're only playing Hufflepuff. A few of those new members would probably wet themselves if they were to meet Slytherin already." He poured some more cereal into his bowl.

"That bad, is it?" asked Remus, helping himself to some toast. He had watched a few of the training sessions and things didn't look good, but he didn't think they'd been as bad as Sirius now said.

"Yup. But at least we've got James on the team. He's one of the few left able to do some decent work out there." He took a mouthful of cereal. "Oh, and Frank's good too. If we're lucky, he'll knock down some Hufflepuffs," he added.

They all went silent for a few minutes. Things weren't looking too good for the Gryffindor team this year. Several people had tried out for the team, but most of them were completely useless. As Captain, Sirius had been forced to base his decision on which players were less detestable than others, rather than any actual talent.

"I guess Arthur isn't too bad -" James began but was cut short by Sirius.

"No, but his broom is. And he said himself that he can't afford a new one, so that's that."

A few more minutes went before Sirius got up. "Time to go," he said, emptying his glass of pumpkin juice. James followed suit.

Remus got up as well. "We'll head down to the pitch, then," he said, giving Peter a nudge.

Sirius threw a Why Bother look his way. "You'll probably wish you'd stayed in the dormitory to finish your homework," he grumbled. "Honestly, I'd rather work on my Charms essay than get flattened by Hufflepuff, of all Houses."

"I'm sure they won't be that lousy, Padfoot. Now, put on a smile and be positive, or you'll destroy the little self-esteem some of them might have managed to gather. You're Captain. You've got to back them up at least a little, however hopeless it may seem." Remus pushed Sirius towards the doors.

"Come on, our brooms are upstairs," James said as they left the Great Hall. "Why can't they get the shed down by the pitch fixed soon?"

Sirius nodded. "I know. Would be quite practical to have everything down there instead of in our dorm. Anyway, come on." And they went to retrieve their equipment.

Remus and Peter continued towards the Quidditch pitch, the rest of the school beginning to file out of the castle. It was a gorgeous, sunny day and quite warm, taking into account that it was almost October.

"Hey Remus!" they heard someone call out as they were about to turn left to the pitch. They both turned around and faced Frank Longbottom hurrying towards them, carrying his Cleansweep 4 over his shoulder. "Where's the Boss?"

"He's getting his broom," Remus said. He lowered his voice quite a bit before continuing: "Tell me, Frank. Are things really as lousy as Sirius is implying?"

Frank surveyed him for a few seconds before sighing. "Well, maybe not that bad, but quite close, I'm afraid. No offence to the new players, but this team is not moving together."

"Give them some time. Perhaps things will change once they get the hang of it."

"Perhaps, but things will have to change soon if we're going to have a chance for the Cup. We're playing Ravenclaw in December and we just can't lose that game."

"Then things will have to change very soon if we're to keep Sirius from going mad."

"It's a bit late for that, isn't it? I wouldn't worry, though. James and I will be watching him carefully after the match today. We'll hold him back if he tries to drown himself in the showers or something equally drastic."

Remus hesitated, fully aware that Sirius had been known to act rashly when things didn't go his way. He had always been extreme when it came to Quidditch (and everything else, for that matter).

"Thanks, Frank," Remus said after a few seconds and with a twist of seriousness in his voice. "We're lucky we found him last time."

Frank chuckled. "I'd better go," he said. "See you afterwards, probably at Sirius' funeral, if we fail to stop him." He gave Remus a wink and headed down to the back of the pitch to meet up with the rest of the players.

Remus and Peter continued down towards the Gryffindor side of the arena and on their way he saw red and golden scarves and banners glimmering in the sunlight.

They climbed up the stairs and mingled together with the other Gryffindors. It was rather crowded, but the two boys managed to excuse themselves to two seats at the front. They squeezed in next to Hagrid.

"Hello Hagrid!" Remus shouted up to the abnormally large man. The Gryffindors were cheering so much that he had to raise his voice to be heard.

Hagrid moved over a bit and made place for the two boys. "Ah, Remus, Peter! So yeh didn' get caught in the shuffle." He motioned towards the staircase. "Excited 'bout the game, are yeh?"

"Apprehensive, more like. Sirius said he'd be surprised if we won. He hoped something would happen though. Something along the lines of drama, if I'm not much mistaken." Remus grimaced.

"Ah, yeh know Sirius. He doesn' thrive unless there's a little action," said the huge man, then laughed a bit of his own joke.

Remus smiled politely. He didn't know how right he was. That action he's seeking will lead to his death one day, I'm sure.

"Hey guys," came a familiar voice and he turned around, only to stand face to face with Lily.

"Hi Lil," he said, feeling himself blush. His reaction shocked him; her mere presence had never made him blush before. Get a grip, man, he told himself.

Lily managed to squeeze herself in between he and Peter

"How are Potter and Black? Are they nervous?" she asked, while pulling on a pair of mittens.

"They always worry about Quidditch." He indicated her mittens. "What do you need those for? It's not that cold today."

"It is to me. I freeze whenever the temperature falls bellow ten degrees." She grinned and tightened the Gryffindor scarf around her neck to emphasize the point.

"Ah," he replied, inwardly cursing himself for such a stupid response. "Oh, brace yourself. Here they come."

Seven players in red and gold robes emerged from the locker room, brooms in tow. The loud roar from the Gryffindor supporters would've been enough to scare a flock of lions, surely.

Suddenly the voice of the referee was heard across the stadium: "Welcome everyone, to the first game of the season; Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor!"

"GO, GO, GRYFFINDOR! GO, GO, GRYFFINDOR!" the supporters chanted in reply and Remus couldn't help but smile. He was very proud of his house and its team, even if some of the players didn't have a clue what they were doing.

"Kingsley's an impressive referee, I must say!" Lily yelled next to him. "I wouldn't have expected him to be this loud!"

Remus nodded in agreement. Kingsley Shacklebolt was a fellow Gryffindor and outside of Quidditch matches, Remus had never heard him raise his voice.

"And they're off!" Kingsley announced excitedly as fourteen players kicked off from the ground.

Remus watched nervously. He crossed his fingers that James and Sirius wouldn't do anything too stupid, like risking their necks for instance, even though he knew it was a wasted effort.

The match was intense from the first second. It didn't take more than two minutes before Frank had almost knocked a Hufflepuff off the broom with his club, but that was about the only good thing that happened. Gryffindor had the Quaffle for the entire first five minutes without scoring once.

"Come on, Sirius!" he cheered along with the other Gryffindors as Sirius sped towards the Hufflepuff-side of the pitch, making the first real attempt on scoring.

"And that's Black with the Quaffle, great way of dodging Scart there, he's heading towards the hoops!" boomed Kingsley, but Remus was just listening with half an ear. In the next second he groaned in disappointment, as did the other Gryffindors around him.

"Black is down, took a very nasty Bludger to the head there! But look at this! He's after the Quaffle again already! Remarkable Chaser, this one! And it's Irivier with the Quaffle, closing up on the Gryffindor hoops, gracefully dodging Longbottom and Weasley there, very well done indeed, I must say, and Irivier scores! Ten points for Hufflepuff!"

The bell echoed around the arena and the yellow and black crowd cheered loudly. Remus shook his head. He knew the match had only been going on for about seven minutes, but this was no good. The spirit in the Gryffindor team seemed very tense and desperate.

"That's the first time in six years I've seen Sirius knocked down in a match," Peter shouted next to Remus.

"There's a first time for everything, I guess, I just wish it hadn't been now!" he shouted back, watching Sirius closely. His friend was furious now, he could tell as much from were he was standing and a furious Sirius was not a good thing. He was reckless enough already.

After twenty minutes the score was fifty-null to Hufflepuff. The Gryffindors on the sideline wasn't cheering as much as they had done to begin with and on the opposite side of the arena, the Hufflepuffs were going wild with excitement.

"Keeper Linehan misses the Quaffle by an inch, very bad luck. That's Hufflepuff's fifth goal, again by Irivier! What a great Chaser the team has gotten there! But what's this? It looks like Black has called for a time-out now! The spirit seems to have disappeared for the Gryffindors. We'll be back in a minute," Kingsley announced as Sirius and the other Gryffindors formed a tight circle around their goalpost.

Remus peered through his Muggle binoculars. James looked practically livid as he came to a halt next to Sirius and Frank had a very dark look on his face. Sirius was gesticulating and shouting at his team members and several of them nodded, but none of them seemed any more at ease.

A minute later, they were off again, determined looks on all seven faces, Sirius and James being the gravest of them. This wasn't only a game to them. It was a question about life or death.

"We're back again after a minute break. Cotton has got the Quaffle, passing to McGovern, back to Cotton, very nice Bludger work from Longbottom there! The Quaffle goes to Weasley, Black has it again, will he manage to score this time? He's got good speed on his Comet Two-Forty."

At this point, Remus grabbed hold of the rail in front of him.

"Barely ducking that Bludger by Carlson there! Very nice move! Excellent control on his broom, Black's got. But Carlson is after him again, together with Everio! Will they get him? He's aiming for the hoops, and he scores! Keeper Hackett hasn't got a chance against this Chaser when he gets as close as this! That's the ten first points for Gryffindor!"

"I thought Sirius would be knocked out by that one. It was a very close call," Lily admitted next to him and he nodded. He'd been sure of that too.

It was the only goal scored by Gryffindor for a long time. After another thirty minutes Hufflepuff had scored so many goals that if James catched the snitch now, Gryffindor would still lose by a good load of points.

"I guess this just isn't our... Oh dear! Look!" Lily gasped and pointed to James up in the air.

Remus quickly looked in the direction she was pointing and saw that James had picked up speed from where he was far above the Hufflepuff goalpost.

"He's seen the Snitch!" she shouted. "Why's he taking it now? They will lose!"

"They will lose either way, look. Kelly has seen it as well." Remus nodded towards the other Seeker.

"McGovern has the Quaffle for Hufflepuff, passes it to Mathews, dodges Weasley without trouble, passes back to McGovern who speeds towards the Gryffindor goal and Keeper Linehan, he - wait! Potter has seen the Snitch!" A loud roar rose from the Gryffindor spectators.

"Potter goes for the Snitch! But, oh dear, so does Kelly! Who will get it?"

Remus watched as the two Seekers speeded towards the little, golden ball and found himself gripping the rails again.

"This will be one heck of race! It looks like Potter's Nimbus' 74 might be a bit faster, but then again Kelly is also very quick on his Starlight Sixty-eight! Who will give up? They're closing up on each other, certainly one will have to - "

The crash was a inevitable. Two hundred feet above the ground, the two Seekers hit each other brutally.

Lily clasped her hands to her mouth in shock, strangling a shriek at the same time and Remus gasped along with the rest of the spectators. Kelly's broom broke in half as they hit each other, instantly sending him flying off it and after what felt like hours he hit the ground bellow the Gryffindor spectators with a sickening thud.

"That was one nasty crash for Kelly there! And Potter is swaying dangerously as well! He seems to be knocked unconscious!"

James wavered on his broom for a few seconds, then he slid off and went tumbling to the ground in a bundle of gold and scarlet robes, landing on top of Kelly's broken broom.

"Oh no!" Lily exclaimed and looked at the two players on the ground, mortified and stunned. Remus however, was about to make his way down.

"Come!" he said, grabbing her arm and pulled her towards the stairs. Peter followed suit, having the words "complete shock" written all over his face.

They ran down the stairs, Remus taking three steps in one, and out on the field. Madame Hooch, players, including Sirius, Frank, Arthur, and a few of the teachers were already hunched over the two fallen players, eying them with worried looks. Madam Pomfrey came running shortly behind them.

Dumbledore rose from where he had been standing by James' fallen body and stepped forward as he saw the three students running towards him. They stopped in front of him, not daring to pass without his word.

"Professor! Is James..? Are they..?" Remus managed to ask between gasps of breath and at the same time trying to look past the Headmaster to see what was going on.

"They will be taken care of, that is for sure. Right now I'm afraid there is nothing any of you can do."

"They're going to be okay, won't they, Professor?" Peter's voice was shaking.

"Madam Pomfrey will do all she can to ensure they will," the headmaster replied, receiving mortified looks from all three of them. It surely wasn't a good thing when Dumbledore didn't tell them at once that the players would be okay.

"Please, Headmaster, can we talk to Sirius?" Remus nodded towards his friend who was bending down next to James. Dumbledore took a step to the side, allowing them to hurry forward.

Frank and Arthur stood a bit away from the scene and they stopped next to them for a second.

"Did you see what happened?" asked Frank darkly. Lily began to explain, but Remus quickly excused himself and hurried towards Sirius, who rose when he saw Remus. Shock was lingering in his eyes also. Remus stopped abruptly as he saw James on the stretcher a few feet away. He looked nothing but terrible. There were cuts and bruises on his face and his robes were stained with blood from where he had landed on the splintered broom, which had belonged to Kelly.

"Dear God, Sirius," he muttered, "how - "

Sirius just shook his head. "I have no idea, man. One minute he had spotted the Snitch, the next - boom!" He shook his head again. "I can't understand how they couldn't see each other. I mean, it's not like there are a lot of obstacles blocking your sight up there in the air, is it?"

They stood in silence for a few moments before Madam Pomfrey disappeared with the two stretchers floating silently in the air behind her.

"Shall we go in?" he suggested.

"Yeah," muttered Sirius.

Remus placed a hand on his shoulder. "You okay, mate?" he asked quietly.

Sirius nodded. "Yeah," he said again and began to walk, but Remus held him back.

"Sirius, stop kidding me and sit down for a moment. You're shaking like a leaf." Remus held his shoulder firmly and pushed him against one of the benches next to the pitch. The other four hurried over towards them, worry written on their face.

"Sirius, what's wrong?" asked Arthur.

"Nothing." He covered his face with his hands.

"Padfoot -"

"I'm fine, Peter. Just a bit out of it," he snapped a bit too fast, making Peter flinch.

"Well..." Frank looked at Remus, receiving a meaningful glance. "We'll leave you two to it. See you later on, okay?"

Sirius didn't answer, so Remus just nodded. He sat down next to Sirius as the others disappeared. They said nothing for a while.

"Why was he so reckless, Moony?" asked Sirius, looking out on the pitch.

"Because he lives for this game, Padfoot," he answered. "Just like you."

He shook his head. "I would never have gone as far as that."

Remus smiled weakly. "Forgive me for disagreeing, but I think you would've, Sirius." When Sirius didn't answer, he continued, "You're both obsessed with this game, and that's fine. But maybe now you see what kind of state you leave your friends in every time anything happens to any of you. I don't think I've been as worried before a game as today. And why's that, do you think?"

Sirius gave a short chuckle, knowing exactly what Remus was referring to. "We've both been very anxious about losing it, and we swore to do whatever it took to win," he answered quietly. "I'm sorry, Moony. I guess it took me six years to see the dangers of this game. Didn't take you as long, as usual."

"It didn't because I was watching it from the sideline, Padfoot, not because I was smarter or anything. You see the great things about the game. I hardly see anything but the scary things. Neither is perfect."

"I guess not."

Silence fell over them again. Sirius seemed to be deep in thought. "I could've been less annoyed with James during that time-out," he said suddenly.

"What did you tell him?" asked Remus, instantly fearing the worst.

"To catch the Snitch or die trying." He let out a deep sigh of regret.

"He won't die, Padfoot," said Remus, trying to strangle a smile. Sirius was the biggest drama-queen sometimes.

"I know, I just... Maybe if I hadn't said it like that, he wouldn't have been so foolhardy."

At this point, Remus couldn't stop himself and let out a short laugh. "Sorry, Padfoot," he said, "but you're not the one to be speaking of foolhardiness. You're the King of Rash Actions. And the Queen of Drama."

"Heh, probably. Still though -"

"Knock it off, Sirius," Remus broke him off. "This is in no way your fault, okay? James isn't one of your admirers. He wouldn't do whatever just because you said so, not like your fans who would've been thrilled if you asked them to jump of off the Astronomy Tower or dive to the bottom of the lake."

Sirius laughed. "You're probably right."

"I do believe I am. How's your head after that bludger, by the way?" asked Remus as they got up.

"Oh, it's fine now. Might want one of Lily's Muggle painkillers before bedtime though." He grinned and pulled Remus into a hug. "Thanks, Moony. For making me feel better."

Remus just nodded. "It's nothing, Padfoot." He smiled, releasing himself from Sirius' embrace.

"You know what will be the most upsetting thought on James' mind when he wakes up?" Sirius chuckled.

"What?"

"That Hufflepuff won the match." Both of them laughed and walked towards the castle.