Poor Professor McGonagall never stood a chance. They had spent all day planning it, walking around talking about it and passing notes around during class about it, working out every little kink, so that even their beloved Minnie, (Only Sirius could call her that and avoid a detention, and he was never given one for calling her Minnie because she knew he wouldn't care if he had one, and it would mean more time spent with Sirius Black.) wouldn't be able to undo the jinxes put on the two look-alikes.
So when the Marauders and the new guy walked in, everyone knew something would go dreadfully wrong at some point during her classes. They didn't have to wait too long. "Harry Potter?"
"Here!"
"You're not Harry Potter, I am!"
These two comments were said in unison by both boys, leaving everyone else in confusion, before both boys turned McGonagall, yelling, "PROFESSOR!"
Sighing, and knowing that she should have seen it coming, McGonagall took a breath to regain her calm air before saying, " Alright, which one of you is James Potter?"
"I AM!"
"But both of you just said you were Harry Potter." A small redhead in the back pointed out logically.
Smiling his most charming smile, James replied with, "Because we are."
But Harry was stuck staring after he did a double take, seeing the girl in so many of the photos he had in his trunk. Lily Evans.
He had been expecting all of the Marauders after he had seen his dad. He had even been able to expect Wormtail, as much as he hated him. But the sight of her alive and annoyed hit him hard, pushing the air out of his lungs. Regaining his voice when Sirius elbowed him, Harry added with a smile, "But if you can guess which one of us is who, we'll change back."
Before McGonagall and Lily could protest, half of the class was leaning forward and shouting guesses. Rolling her eyes, Lily said, "Honestly, James Potter, will you ever grow up! You're so immature!"
James went on to look hurt, but Harry defended both of them, saying, "Yes, but this prank isn't hurting anyone. And you have to admit it's fun! Come on, Lily, you hate James Potter enough to know who he is and how he acts, right?" Harry taunted. He couldn't help but notice how frustrated she was, and at the moment could see what Remus had meant during one of the stories he had heard about his parents. James had enjoyed annoying Lily to some degree because as long as she wasn't lethal, Lily Evans was very fun to annoy.
Rolling her eyes, Lily hesitated for a moment, and then, hesitantly, leaned forward, squinting and brushing her hair out of her eyes, trying to notice any differences between the two. James couldn't help but whoop in success and Harry rewarded Lily with a smile brighter than the Marauders had gotten from him yet that she hesitantly returned.
By the end of class no one had figured out who was who because James and Harry kept switching seats, meaning that as soon as the class thought they had them, the two boys preformed a charm to change the seating. Walking out into the hallway, Sirius slung his arms theatrically over one of the twin-like boys shoulders, saying, "That was great, Prongs."
"Sirius?"
"Hum?"
"I'm Harry."
Remus and Peter were already pretty far behind them, standing in the hallway laughing. James kept walking with them as Sirius removed his arm from Harry's shoulders, grinning at his own mistake, and James tried to laugh too, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.
How could his own best mate not know the difference? He and Harry walked differently, and talked differently, Harry using longer and more thought-out words, and James spoke simply to continue the noise.
But he didn't have anything to worry about, right? Harry was different from him. James was an individual, and it wasn't like this new member of the Marauders would be kicking the old one out.
So why did he feel so weird and left out, as Sirius talked to Harry, who was walking where James normally did on his right? And why had Lily Evans smiled at Harry when she never smiled at him, and yet at the time they had looked exactly alike?
Peter was having similar feelings towards Harry Potter, though he wouldn't admit it. This boy, who looked an awful lot like James with prettier eyes, had more secrets but wasn't taking Peter's place among his friends, because the others weren't laughing at Harry. There was nothing to laugh at.
If anything, in fact, the boy kept them grounded a little, helping Remus see any errors in the plans, helping James think up appropriate places and victims, and helping Sirius to plot in the first place.
If Peter hadn't had a place among his friends before, he really didn't now. And that scared him.
But that was all right. Because everyone knows that to be friends, you had to be on your friend's team, and Quidditch try-outs, which Peter had been preparing for, were being held tonight. There was no way he would let the new kid steal anything more from him, besides his friends and place. He couldn't steal Peter's ability to play Quidditch. Not when he'd worked all year to get so good.
"Hey Harry, you going to try out tonight?" Sirius asked, staring when Harry frowned, considering. Well, what did he have to lose?
"Sure."
Harry's mind was racing, as he quickly walked up to the dorms to take out his Firebolt. How would he explain to James and Sirius about his broom…there had to be something he could say to avoid questioning…
Of course.
"Yeah, it's a prototype. My godfather" who's standing right in front of me years younger, "got it for me before…"
But Harry couldn't say anything about Sirius, not while Sirius was standing so nearby. The loss of his godfather hadn't hurt nearly as bad as usual when a semi-version of his godfather had been with him since he had been thrown through time and space, and bringing it up now would only cause the pain and self-pity, two emotions he loathed, to surface. "Before I left for here."
"Will you be seeing him soon?"
"He's dead." Harry stated blandly despite his determination not to mention it. Already he was scaring his friend's away by telling them how many people close to him had died in his life, but he had to knowing what Sirius was getting at. "That's why I'm here. He's dead and he can't get you a broom like this one."
While Harry was thinking about how good it felt it finally just admit his godfather's death to himself, allowing the bittersweet feeling to surround him, Sirius said, "Sorry…shouldn't have asked."
"Yeah, well, I'm kind of used to it. At least you don't pity me. I seem to run through the father-figures…" Harry shifted, unsure of what to say. Sirius, James, the rest of the team, Peter, and three other boys trying out for the seeker position were staring at him in silence. "Well, I'm not the captain. James, what do we do?"
"Oh, right…" For a moment, James had the impression Harry had been talking to Sirius more than anyone else, but then Sirius had asked the question, so it only made sense that Harry would be answering him. Clapping his hands to capture the attention of the others, and trying to take the attention off of poor Harry, James shouted, "Come on. Up in the air, let's see what you lot can do."
Smiling, everyone flew up, as James began.
"The point of the seeker is to catch the snitch, but there's a lot more involved in it than the end of the game and those hundred fifty points. There's always dodging, like a keeper, and catching, like a chaser, and watching more than one thing at a time, like a Beater. Therefore, the seeker needs to be able to do more than see the snitch. You need to be able to chase it, and catch it. We're going to try a few exercises, okay?"
As he said all of this, James had taken out a wooden bow from a few feet below them, and at the last few words he had tossed the quaffle to Sirius, who had expected it and caught it with ease.
Everyone did exceptional with the chaser exercises, and Harry did great at hitting the bludger, deciding that if he hadn't been given the seeker position, he could've been a beater as well. While there were no exercises for keeper, there were many dodging exercises, and eventually, James had limited it to Harry, Peter and Louis Pearson, a third year.
While Harry knew he could see the snitch when James released it, he studied his opponents. Peter, it seemed, had been taught to see it, so he saw glints of it, and caught images of it when it hovered for only a moment before disappearing, but Louis had the abilities of a Beater or Keeper. He wouldn't be any competition.
Deciding not to show off when it wasn't necessary, and not to embarrass Peter, Harry lazily made his way around the pitch, scanning for the snitch through all of the other players, who seemed to be practicing, but were really creating quite the little diversion.
And suddenly he saw a streamline of gold shoot past him, heading downwards. Just behind the gold was Peter, diving for the snitch.
Surprised that the other boy could dive so well, but determined to be able to play next to his father, Harry fell into the dive as well, confident that he could beat the traitor to the golden ball.
But just as they were level, and Peter had his hand outstretched, about to seize Harry's only chance of playing with his father, the snitch so close increased in speed and flew straight up, disappearing again.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Harry silently vowed not to underestimate any of his opponents ever again, past, (or present, as it were,) or future. Slowly, he flew upwards to resume search, while the rest of the team watched him fly in awe.
Peter had been training hard for forever, and had been struggling just a moment ago to catch the snitch. Harry seemed to naturally fall into a dive, and to him and the rest of the team was completely at ease and a natural in the air. From there on, everyone knew, there was no competition. Harry had won.
But Harry's head-on dive after the snitch had everyone watching him again, as Peter hung back, wanting to be the one to catch it but unable to go straight down like that without falling over his broom head-first.
Harry couldn't contain his whoop of excitement as his held up his prize.
"So we know who's on the team, right?" James asked later, as they all toweled off, the dust finally gone from their hair and eyes.
Peter watched as Harry grinned uncontrollably, and wondered if this new boy knew that he had just ruined Peter's only chance at finding somewhere to belong. And as Peter heard Sirius say something to Harry about him being born a natural in the air, and how it seemed be belonged better up in the air than on the ground, Peter wondered if there was anywhere he would be able to fit in.
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