Being Minnie's Daughter

Chapter 54

James' POV

The next three weeks fly by quickly with daily Quidditch practice, sometimes twice a day, and that stupid essay we have to write for Slughorn. Of course, Mackenzie and Lily completed the potion first, how on Earth would they not be able to.

Sirius, Remus, and I groan as we enter our dormitory right as curfew begins. Mackenzie and Lily refused to help us with the essay and we have spent every available second in the library. Up until now, I didn't even know where the library was. The second we sit on our beds, Mack comes sprinting through the door.

She opens her mouth to say something then pauses for a moment. "Where's Peter?" she asks, tilting her head to the side.

"With Mary," Sirius mumbles as he drops his bookbag onto the floor.

Mack walks over and sits on the corner of Sirius' bed. "That's not possible, Mary is in our dormitory with Marlene."

Remus and I exchange a glance before shrugging. "Honestly, we have no idea Mack," I answer. "What did you need to tell us?"

She pulls a copy of the evening post out from behind her back and tosses it onto my bed. Remus stands up and leans over to read the whole passage while I stay stuck on the headline.

"The Tutshill Tornados and Wimborne Wasps match was attacked?" I exclaim. Sirius flies out of his bed and scrambles over to read the short article.

Mackenzie nods, "Mum told me and gave me the post to show you, she thought you three would be interested in knowing."

Sirius' face grows paler as he absorbs the words about these Dark magic followers. "Those blasted – " He shouts before throwing the paper and storming out of the dorm.

We all turn and watch him leave before hesitating a moment to race after him through the halls. We keep our distance from him so he can stew in peace but after one look at his face, I know he is up to something.

He storms though the Great Hall and bangs open the doors as he races towards the group of Slytherins on the shore of the Black Lake. Mack grabs Remus and my wrist before tugging us down behind a patch of bushes.

"What are you doing Mack?" I hiss. "Let me go after Padfoot."

"No James," Mack says softly, focusing in on the pure-blooded gits. "Look at who he is approaching specifically."

I peek up over the bushes just in time to see Regulus turn around at the voice of his older brother.

"I need to have a word with you," Sirius says angrily staring Regulus down before walking towards our usual tree further down the lake.

Regulus looks at him hesitantly before following further behind. At this point the two brothers are far enough away that no one out on the lawn can hear a single word of their exchange. Though from knowing how similar the personalities and facial expressions of the two, it is obvious Sirius is interrogating Regulus but is also concerned.

Sirius' anger drops from his face and he nods. He mutters something to Regulus before walking back towards the castle. "You can come out from behind the bushes now," Sirius says dejectedly as he passes by our location.

We scramble out from behind the bushes and follow Sirius back up to our room. "You okay Padfoot?" I ask softly as we settle back into our room.

Sirius shakes his head. "We better beat those damn Slytherin snakes tomorrow."

Remus, Mack, and I exchange a look before settling down for bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I fly up to Emmaline who passes me the quaffle quickly before I duck underneath a bludger Sirius shoots over my head to knock a Slytherin chaser off my tail. I throw the quaffle straight at the goals and flip around before watching to see if it goes in.

"SCORE! 10 POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!" Peter shouts, his voice echoing around the pitch.

I duck under a Slytherin beater and shoot up to go by Mackenzie. "How's the snitch hunt coming?" I shout as I pass her.

I hear a few mean words slip out her mouth before Marlene starts snarling at me. Sirius and Marlene are flying around the center of the pitch trying to cut off all Slytherins with the bludgers.

"HONESTLY POTTER!" She screeches. "FOCUS ON YOUR POSITION!"

Sirius turns his head away when her voice hurts his sensitive puppy ears. He flies away quickly and I slip through the hole he created to steal the quaffle from an unsuspecting Lucinda Talkalot.

I am just about to score when I see the flash of a spell shoot at my side. My eyes widen as the spell hits my arm holding the quaffle. Instantly my muscles freeze and my broom descends straight to the ground. Only my eyes will move and I search the crowd.

"JAMES!" A voice screams, a small girl leaning over the edge of the stands.

I attempt to smile. "Lil – "

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first thing I notice when I start to wake up is a warm hand squeezing mine tightly. Then my hearing comes back and quiet chatter fills my ears. Next is smell; Merlin those sweaty Quidditch uniforms smell absolutely awful.

"Merlin's beard," I groan softly before opening my eyes. "Why didn't you get changed out of your stinking uniforms?"

Giggles come from my right and I turn my head to see green eyes smiling down at me. "They all did get changed Potter, it's your uniform that stinks."

I look down at myself before scanning everyone else standing around me. Sirius, Peter, and Remus stand at the foot of my bed grinning while Mack shakes her head in the other chair to my left. I watch as Mack looks over pointedly and stands up. "C'mon boys," she says softly walking over to grab Remus' arm. "You have an essay you need to finish."

Sirius, Peter, and Remus groan as she leads them out of the infirmary. I turn my head to the right and look over at Lily. "Look at how the tables have turned Lilyflower," I grin, hoping to make her smile.

Her face falls. "It's not funny James, you could've gotten seriously hurt."

"I couldn't have gotten seriously hurt, he already left the infirmary," I say cheekily.

Her green eyes harden into a strong glare. "Potter."

I squeeze her hand back and look down. "I'm sorry I scared you Lily. Can you tell me what happened at the match?"

"Well," She says softly, settling back into her chair. "Gryffindor won."

My eyes shoot open and I begin to sit up before Lily shoves me back to laying down. "That's excellent! Why didn't they tell me before they left?" I ask looking over to the infirmary doors.

Lily doesn't answer so I look back at her. "Mackenzie wanted me to tell you," she whispers rubbing her hands together.

"What's wrong Lily?" I ask, pining her hands down onto the bed with one of mine.

"Goyle was the one who casted the spell at you," Lily says softly. "They wanted to cheat to win and they thought the best way would be to get you out of the way so they could get the snitch while the Gryffindor team was distracted."

"That obviously didn't happen though," I tell her, pushing some of her red locks away from her face.

She chuckles, "Nope, Mackenzie didn't see the spell. She was the only one who didn't notice. That's the only reason why we won."

I smile and let go of her hands. I scooch over in the bed so there is a small space on my right. I pat the spot next to me and Lily looks over at the nurse's office hesitantly before looking back at me. "Just join me Lily."

She nods slowly and climbs onto the infirmary bed. We lay there in silence while I rub her hair away from her face absentmindedly.