Chapter 8: A Beater and the Purple Letter
"So she hexed your cigarettes, hm?" Sirius put a finger to his pursed lips, deep in thought.
It was the next day, and the two of them were sitting in the back row of History of Magic. Discreetly, they had put the muffliato spell on Professor Binns' ears so that he could not hear a word anyone was saying, and now the whole class was happily babbling away and completely ignoring him.
"Yeah. God knows how she knew about them." James ran a hand through his hair uneasily, a habit that he had picked up from Sirius and used when he was lying.
"She probably smelled your breath, if I had to guess." Sirius said, putting his finger down and rolling his eyes.
"Oh, like you're so innocent."
Sirius ignored his comment and was now studying Lily, who was reading a book.
"She must have a weakness…" he said, more to himself than to James.
"How are we supposed to do anything? I already told you what she said."
"Then quit smoking the things and be done with it."
Sirius, like James, was the sort of person who didn't believe that it was possible to be addicted to anything, and that it was all a matter of choice. James shrugged, feigning nonchalance.
"Well, if I do, then she's won, hasn't she?"
"True." Sirius put his finger back on his lips.
"What I really don't understand," he said finally, "is her involvement with you."
"What d'you mean?" James asked, his voice slightly more pitchy than normal.
"You know. She's trying to get you to stop smoking, she talks to you when we hardly know her…are you sure she doesn't fancy you?"
James had to swallow hard to keep himself from telling Sirius everything.
"I doubt it." he said lightly, "Come on, why would she?"
"You're a Quidditch star." Sirius said, leaning back in his chair and shrugging. James stared.
"You know," he said, "I've been hearing that quite often."
"Yeah, well don't let it go to your head."
"Why don't you just do something to Snivelly?" James asked on a sudden inspiration, "After all, he's the one we're really after, isn't he?"
"That's…true. They're friends, so that would get to her without actually doing something to her." Sirius said thoughtfully, "James, your simple minded thinking has so much potential."
"Who are you calling simple--"
"Hey," somebody shouted, "Binns is looking!"
"Shit." Sirius hissed. Everyone turned back around in their seats, and James took the charm off him. The whole class then had to convince Binns that he must have been dreaming. Since he was 190 years old and a rather frequent sleeper, this was successfully accomplished in five minutes, and the rest of James's class time was occupied by hurling paper balls filled with insults back and forth with Sirius.
***
The week passed rather uneventfully; there were two Prefect meetings which James had to help preside over, and he did so lazily, letting Lily do the work. At each of these meetings they didn't talk to each other, though she seemed to try to catch his eye once or twice. After seeing that he was purposely avoiding talking to her, she left him alone, and James was relieved. His life was quickly going back to normal.
His first Quidditch practice as captain came at the end of the week. He felt uneasy about it, though he had been vying for the position since his second year. Sirius, who was the Keeper, winked at him reassuringly as he cleared his throat.
"Right." James said to the five people on the team, "We had an…interesting year last year, and…well, now that Alice has graduated we're going to have to find a new Beater."
This was met with groans, and he didn't blame them. It seemed that almost every year they were having tryouts. For some reason, there seemed to be a lack of good Quidditch players in Gryffindor house, and they had not won the cup in three years, suffering from what Professor McGonagall confirmed to be some of the most spectacularly bad defeats the team had ever suffered. Every year, the second rate players seemed to only get worse, and he and Sirius had been asked by several people, in all seriousness, to fail seventh year so they could continue to play for the team. They were its last hope, and everyone, even the other team members, knew that.
"So, Monday we'll have tryouts. If you know of anybody, anybody who can hit a bludger--hit anything--please convince them to come."
This was met with weary laughs, and they were soon in the air, practicing the latest strategies that James had devised over the summer. For the first time that year, he was completely at ease; all the worries and awkwardness he'd felt were left down on the ground, and the air whipping around him reminded him all that he'd missed about Hogwarts. Unfortunately, even this holy feeling managed to be ruined by how pathetically his team performed. After an hour, he touched down to the ground reluctantly, and everyone else followed.
"Alright." he said, "So that was…it was good--well, I mean, it wasn't good, but it wasn't bad--and again, Monday we have tryouts for a Beater. See you then."
The team left after mumbling exhausted goodbyes, until Sirius was the only one left.
"There's no way we're going to win this." Sirius said.
"Thank you. Your vote of confidence is overwhelming."
"Look, Prongs, you could be the best bloody captain in the world, and you still wouldn't be able to get this team into the Quidditch final. What we need is a miracle, do you hear me? A miracle."
"Well, you know how it always goes, Sirius." James said wearily, "They usually come when you really need them."
"Unless you're the losing team. Then you just lose."
James glared at him.
"You'd better go. I'm about to drown myself in the showers, and I doubt you want to see it."
"I suppose this means I'll have to warn Remus that your suicidal tendencies have returned?"
"Yes. And just so you know, I'm not leaving anything of mine to you."
"In that case, I want to watch you drown yourself. It'll entertain me."
"Go. Just go."
Sirius left, and no sooner did he than Lily appeared.
"Oh, it's you." James moaned. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the headache that was starting.
"I saw you play."
"I'm sure."
"It wasn't…well, it wasn't very good."
"I know. Is there a point to this?"
"I notice you're short of a Beater."
"Yeah."
"I can help you fill the position."
"What, do you want it?" The thought of Sirius and Lily on the same team made his headache so bad that he began to massage his temples.
"No. Are you alright?"
"If you aren't taking it, how do you plan on helping me fill it? We've interviewed practically everybody in Gryffindor." He ignored the question as to whether he was alright, because he honestly felt like he was going to start crying.
"You missed someone. His name is Ludo Bagman, he's in fifth year and he's a fabulous flyer."
"If he's so great, then why hasn't he ever tried out?"
"He's established quite a large, illegal betting system with a boy named Mundungus Fletcher. They made hundreds of galleons betting on the Quidditch games, so he wasn't able to play before, because it would affect business. Mundungus graduated last year, and he was really the brains of it, so now he's got no reason not to join."
James opened his eyes and put his hands down.
"How…how the hell do you know all of this?"
Lily smiled.
"I'm nosy."
"And…you say he's good?"
"I've asked Madam Hooch, and she says he has the potential to join a professional team right out of Hogwarts."
James suddenly felt an outpouring of warmth towards Lily.
"Thank you." he said hoarsely, "You have no idea how much this--"
"Forget about it." she said, "I had to do something to get you to speak to me."
"You're mad."
"Well, that's all of us, isn't it? I just happen to be slightly madder than your average madman. Or madwoman, because it isn't right to sexually discriminate between us all."
James couldn't even think what a proper reply to that was, so he nodded and headed to take a shower, deciding that perhaps he wouldn't drown himself after all.
***
"Where in the world did you find Ludo Bagman?" Sirius asked Monday evening, his eyes bulging, "How have we not seen him before? Is he real?"
"He's your miracle, Sirius." James said, grinning so widely that his face hurt. They were sitting in the Quidditch stands, watching as Ludo hit two bludgers through the hoops at the same time.
"Where did he come from?"
"I had…a source."
"It was Lily, wasn't it?" Seeing James's surprised look, he added, "Don't bother denying it. I saw her when I was leaving yesterday."
James was silent.
"There's something off about her. How is it that she managed to prank you, a notorious Marauder, be friends with Snivellus Snape, and find the answer to the Quidditch team's prayers? Next we'll find out she bakes sugar cookies for the House Elves."
"To be quite honest, she seems absolutely mad. Not at all normal."
"I think you know more about her than you let on, Jimmy. I don't understand why you won't tell me."
"Because there's nothing to tell!"
"Hmm." Sirius said, disbelieving. After studying him a moment, he said in a frightening voice,
"Do you fancy her?"
"What?" James cried, "No! Of course I don't!"
"If you say so. But I'm telling you; even if she never gets one prank pulled on her, we will find out what it is with her."
"I thought we were getting to her through Snape."
"I'm not talking about getting to her." Sirius said, narrowing his eyes at nothing in particular, "We're going to find out the truth about her. Though I notice you're saying `we' again. Whatever it is about her that you have such a problem with doing anything, it needs to stop."
"There's not anything." James mumbled, no longer in a good mood.
"Great. Oh, would you look at that? Bagman's sort of juggling the bludgers. How the hell does he do it?"
***
Tuesday morning James received, along with the Daily Prophet, a letter. He could tell from the lavender envelope and the curious smell of perfume wafting from it that it was from his mother. It read:
My Dearest Jamie,
I do hope you and Sirius are enjoying your time at Hogwarts! Of course, I miss you terribly. Your father does too; I told him he should write a letter, but he's very busy, you know how it gets with his work.
At any rate, I have been quite busy. I was at tea on Wednesday at Aurora Black's house (perhaps it would be better if you didn't mention that to Sirius; you know how he gets when he hears about his mother), and who did I see but Madame Delacour! You remember her--the fetching little thing whose mum was a veela. She just had a daughter, by the way--a lovely little girl named Fleur. I mention Madame Delacour because I found out she has a sister around your age. She goes to Beauxbatons obviously, but Madame Delacour and I agree that it would be simply wonderful if you were to meet her at our Christmas ball.
Oh dear, I was going to write more to you, but I must go, and I wanted Aristotle to deliver this today. Kisses, my love, and be good. Make your father and me proud!
Love always,
Mum
James stared at the letter disgustedly before tearing it in half. Aristotle, the gray owl who had delivered the letter and was now drinking from his goblet of pumpkin juice, turned to look at him, scandalized.
"That's right." James said, "That's what I think of you and Mum and Madame Delacour's bloody sister. Go on, get out."
The owl bit him reproachfully on the ear and flew off. James put his head down on the table.
"Alright there?"
"Sirius." James moaned miserably, "I think I might pull a runner. You think Moony will take both of us in?"
"I guess your mum sent you a letter."
"Who else?"
"Who'd she pair you up with this time?"
"Madame Delacour's bloody sister."
"She's not so bad. When you look at her long enough and you aren't listening, it's almost like she's speaking English."
"Thanks, Padfoot."
"Anytime."
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