The Losing One || Sirius Black

33. 1492. Quidditch World Cup

James Potter

Thursday, 10th August 1972.

Potter Manor

From the moment James got home, he had spent every single second in the Potter's library, trying to find anything about the stupid 1492. Quidditch World Cup. It was a very tedious job since there could be one sentence that could help him which meant James had to be quite thorough in his research.

Nix kept him company most of the time, the owl would either rest on the pillow James placed at one of the study desks or on his head. He knew the job had to be done by him since Sirius already informed him how the Black's library didn't have a single book dedicated to Quidditch. Although, they did have a few on map making so Sirius didn't get the chance to rest either.

It had already been a full day of just reading and reading. James started right after breakfast and took only a couple of breaks to eat and play a bit of quidditch outside, before he was back in between big bookcases. The clock announced that it was currently 10pm which officially marked his nineth hour of work.

"I'm going to go insane.", James murmured to himself as he closed the eighth book he went through that day. Nix must have predicted his next move since the owl took off of his head just before James smashed it on the desk. Miserable, he kept smashing it on the dark wood until it hurt enough for him to just rest it on the desk.

He went through all the books that had anything to do with quidditch, Snitches, World Cup, brooms, year 1492, magical sports, Hogwarts castle, trophies, hidden passageways, spells for hidden passageways... He even went through muggle history to find the year 1492 and see if there was anything that could give him some clue on what to look for next.

It has been more than a month and James still had nothing. He will have to return to school in just three weeks, plus Peter and Remus will come to visit him tomorrow which meant no more research. Basically, in James' mind, he was screwed.

The Marauders were so close to discovering their third secret passageway, but seeing as any information about the 1492. Quidditch World Cup disappeared from the face of this stupid earth, they will probably have to let this one go.

"Why are you sulking, Junior?"

When James lifted his head, Fleamont stood at the library entrance, hands crossed and looking amused by the sight in front of him. He neared his son and took a seat next to him, "Hundred ways to catch a Snitch? I thought you wanted to be a chaser?"

James just sighed at that, "Yeah, I do, but I still haven't found anything about that thing you told me not to tell mom about."

Fleamont raised his eyebrows, "Still? But we for sure have a book about the 1942 Quidditch World Cup. ", he whispered.

"1942? No, dad. I need information on the 1492. World Cup.", James shook his head while giving his dad a miserable look, but at those words Fleamont's face lit up, "What?", James questioned.

Without another word, his dad stood up and left the library. James just prayed he will come back with the solution to his biggest problem. After a few minutes, Fleamont came back holding a huge old book. He placed it in front of James, "Here. It was in my study. There's a lot of funny stuff in there so I read it sometimes to clear my head. Maybe you will find what you are looking for.", he winked at James and left the room.

James quickly read over the title Quidditch and Its Outlandish Events, which sounded promising. Then he opened the table of contents and his face lit up as he finally saw that there was a chapter on the fourteenth century.

His leg started to bounce from excitement when he turned to the page 573. James scanned over every single word. Granted, the year 1492 should be near the end, but he wanted to make sure to not skip anything. In the end, there really was a small passage about the 1492. Quidditch World Cup on the page 658. His eyes started to read as fast as they could.