The Marauders: Year Three | #Wattys2016

Fight on the Pitch

Fight on the Pitch

James woke up and jammed his glasses on the next morning. The sun was shining in through the high windows over his four poster. He glanced over to see Remus's form curled up around the big fluffy black dog - all you could really see of Snuffles was the tip of one ear sticking out from beneath Remus's chin and his flapping tail sticking out the side of the bed covers. Peter was still asleep, too. James crawled out from under his blankets and went to his trunk, changing into his Gryffindor quidditch uniform. It was the day of the first game and he was eager to get ready and go out to the pitch - it was a wonderful day for quidditch, he could tell from the sun rays in the window. He was tugging on a pair of leather boots when Peter woke up.

"What time is it?" Peter asked sleepily.

"Early yet," James replied. "Breakfast should be in about a half hour..."

Peter sat up groggily and looked about. He spotted Remus and Sirius's wagging tail sticking out from under the covers, then glanced over at the empty fourth bed across the room. "Is that --"

"Sirius? Yup." James nodded.

Peter asked, "Has he been there all night?"

"Yup," James nodded again.

Peter got up and started getting dressed, too. He was struggling with the laces on his trainers when finally James couldn't take it anymore and he threw a jumper at Remus, "Wake up, sleepy-heads," he called, "It's breakfast time. And it's quidditch day."

Remus blinked awake slowly, pushing the jumper off his face where it had landed with his arm. He looked down in surprise at the snuggling black dog. "Sirius??" As a reply, he got a thick, gooey wet lap straight across the face and Sirius leaped up from his arms and bounded across the bed, jumping from Remus's to Peter's to James's - nearly knocking James over - and onto his own bed, bouncing and prancing about. Remus looked even more shocked and struggled to roll himself out of bed without bending his knee too much.

"Hurry up and get ready," James said, pulling on his quidditch gloves.

Sirius barked.

"YOU IDIOT!" James yelled, "SHUT IT! Frank and Andy are going to hear you barking like that and they're gonna ask about it and what're we gonna say then?"

"We could tell them we were eating Animal Crackers," suggested Peter.

Sirius turned back into a boy, laughing as he did. His shirt was all wrinkled and his hair a mess. He ran his fingers through it and flopped onto his belly to reach in his trunk for the bottle of Sleekeazy he'd been using to style it just so. He hurried over to the mirror and started swiping palms full of the potion up in a suave style.

When the boys were all dressed and ready, they headed downstairs to the Gryffindor table and eagerly ate their breakfasts. James was all quaffles and snitches as he'd turned to talk to Andy and Frank. Sirius was picking at breakfast, but mostly sitting and staring at the plate, deep in thought while Peter and Remus chatted across from him.

When they'd finished eating, they started on down the path toward the pitch, James carrying both the brooms over his shoulder as he ran ahead, excitedly, waving for the others to hurry up. Peter was overfull from eating too much and waddling along slow while Sirius took his time, making sure Remus was alright making his way down the uneven dirt path to the pitch with his crutches. He was still deep in thought, though, and unfocused, in his own little world.

There came a light nudge on his side, stirring him from his thinking, and he blinked up to find Remus staring at him. "You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sirius answered. "Bit tired."