Quidditch Tryouts
It was barely sunrise when Marlene sat in the Gryffindor common room. She had her warmest clothes on and a pair of mittens stuffed into her pocket. She sat in the biggest armchair by the fire, which was now down to embers, as she waited for James.
She soon heard the ruckus that was James Potter coming down the stairs from his common room. She stood up to greet him, a big smile on her face.
“Hi James,” she said cheerfully, hugging him, “Are you ready to go?” He nodded, pulling his red and gold woollen gloves over his hands. “Yeah, we just gotta wait for Sirius, he wants to come too,” her smile faltered slightly, the feeling of disappointment washing over her.
She had noticed a lot lately that she and James had been hanging out less and less. Even she and Peter didn’t talk as much as they used to.
“He should be down here any minute, though he does normally take bloody ages getting out of bed,” James chuckled a little rolling his eyes and sitting down on the couch Marlene had sat on before, she followed after plopping down next to him, “That’s OK, as long as we’re not late,” she sighed a little.
“Oh, don’t worry Marls, we won’t be,” he said, walking his fingers along the arm of the chair, when they reached the end he made them jump off. Marlene started giggling, James looked up at her smiling.
“I wish we could have joined the team this year,” she said, “When we do join next year, which of course we will, the Gryffindor team will wish that we did,” James said, confidently. “I reckon!” she said, “I do hope that there is a position open for a beater,” she said a little worried, “Nah, I’m sure there will be, and if there isn’t, with your talent they would be foolish not to take you,” he patted her arm,
“Goooodddddd Morning Jamsie,” Sirius said, sliding over to them. He was wearing a crimson red and gold Gryffindor jumper. “We can go in a moment, I just need to put my shoes on,” he flopped himself down right in between James and Marlene, barely enough room to fit the three of them.
“Oi mate, get off me,” James said, shoving Sirius, who crashed into Marlene. She shoved her shoulder at Sirius. He yelped, leaping up from the seat, and rubbed his shoulder. “Ouch, you bloody toerags,” Marlene and James both burst out into a fit of giggles.
“Gosh Sirius, you're quite a bit dramatic aren’t you?” he said, regaining his composure. Marlene was still giggling quietly, and Sirius scowled at her, which set off another fit.
He sat down on the floor and laced up his boots, “Come then,” James said, smacking his knee and hopping up from his place on the chair, his face still flushed from laughing. “If we don’t leave now we’re going to be late for the tryouts altogether,” Marlene’s stomach growled “And I’m so hungry, I want to eat first before we go,”
With that the trio departed the common room and made their way down the thousands of flights of stairs, Sirius nearly falling over one of the railings trying to see how far over he could lean. James snatched the back of his jumper just in time. “You absolute idiot,” he said, yanking the pale boy back, “You could have died!” James continued, exasperated. “Don’t you do that again,”
James could be such a mother hen, Marlene thought, shaking her head. She led them the rest of the way through the castle. Which at this early time of the morning, was far more alive than she had expected. Mostly older students seemed to be up, seemingly heading to or from the library.
When they got to the great hall, the tables were near empty, the tables only had toast and a few spreads on them. They sat down together at the Gryffindor table. “Dang it,” James said, “We’ve just missed the team! I wanted to meet the captain, you know, so I could try and get ahead for next year,” he explained, “Ahh, right on Potter, you seem to have it all figured out,” Sirius said, buttering a piece of wholegrain toast, then taking a mouthful.
“That's only part of my brilliant plan,” he continued, Marlene nodded, “He’s had his Quidditch career since the moment he was on a broom,” she continued. “It’s insanely annoying,” James kicked her under the table, “Hey!” she exclaimed, “Hmph,” James said, folding his arms, “How could you insult my brilliantly, meticulously, well-thought-out plans,”
“Well,” Sirius said expectantly, “What are this brilliant, whatever-whatever, plans?” James' face lit up, “I thought you’d never ask,” James then began to tell Sirius a very detailed description of how he was going to become a professional quidditch player for the Arrows. And, of course, it all started today with meeting the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain.
When James finished his plan, Sirius looked rather dumbfounded, “You weren’t wrong, Potter,” He shook his head slightly, “That was an… elaborate plan,” He put his chin on his hand and screwed up his face. “Haven’t really thought about my future, to be honest,” Sirius said, “But I’m sure my wonderful parents have it all figured out for me,” he shook his head as if shaking away the thoughts of his parents and stood up. James followed and stood up as well,
“Come on Marls, we should probably get going, they have probably already warmed up so we’ve missed the boring parts,” and with that, the three walked outside into the cold winter air.
“Thank god I bought gloves with me,” Marlene chattered, pulling the grey gloves over her hand. “I forgot mine,” James said, he shoved his hands deep into his pocket, and Sirius did the same. “At least it isn’t raining?” He said trying to lighten the mood, “Oi,” Marlene said, smacking him, James screwed up his face confused, “You’ll jinx us,” she laughed.
About nine people were trying out for the team, two were trying out for keeper, three for the beater position and four were competing for the space as the chaser.
James observed closely the chasers that were trying out, “They’re good,” James said, “But this one here, on the left, Marcus, I think his name is? He focuses too much on his left side, and leaves his right side open to being hit by a bludger,” He critiqued, “I mean he’s not BAD per se, just not great either,” he continued studying the next player, “Is he always like this?” Sirius asked Marlene, “This is him subdued, you should see what he’s like when the world cup is on!” She chuckled at the memories.
“He’s been quidditch mad since before we met, I think. Since before the womb I would find most believable,” it was now Sirius' turn to laugh, they watched as James, intently watched the training match from the observer’s box. Shouting demands at players, groaning if someone messed up or fumbled.
When the practice match came to an end James raced down the stairs of the observer's box and made his way to the pitch. They got down there towards the end of the captain's speech, “Remember, you all did great, but there are only four spaces available so, no hard feelings if you don’t get in. The finalised team will be posted tomorrow on the notice board in the common room,” With that, the team was dismissed and everyone but the captain left for the changing rooms.
James walked over to the Captain and introduced himself, “Hi, I’m James, James Potter, I want to play for the team next year,” he stuck out his hand and looked up at the captain expectantly. The captain looked down at him and laughed, “Well, hello James, I’m Lucas Johnson, Captain and Chaser for the Gryffindor team,” he shook James’ hand.
Marlene and Sirius watched from afar as James buttered up to Lucas Johnson. “Gosh he’s a prat,” Sirius said laughing, “He’s a suck-up that's for sure,” Marlene snorted, “Come on, I want to go back to the castle, it's freezing out here,” her teeth began chattering again.
Marlene and Sirius made their way back into the castle and up the stairs to the common room. “I hope James’ll be alright out there by himself,” Marlene said, “Nah don’t worry about him, he’s got the quidditch captain to fawn over,” Sirius jokes.
“Turkey Delights,” Marlene announced to the painting, the Fat Lady looked frazzled, “I wouldn’t recommend going into there,” She said pointing her thumb behind her, but swung open anyway.
Inside the common room was a mess, the tapestries had been shredded into pieces, bits of wood and ash had been sprinkled around the room from the fireplace, shoes, clothing items, parchment and books were flying through the air, and students were running around trying to stop whatever things had been set free.
“Cornish Pixies,” Sirius shouted, “Ghastly creatures,” Marlene agreed. One creature swooped down and grabbed onto her arm, she let out a shout, “AHHH, GET THIS THING OFF ME,” She swatted at it, with her free arm. Sirius lifted his wand out of his pocket, “Do you know any spells yet, Black?” she raised an eyebrow, “Not really,” he said, as more pixies flew over to them, three grabbing onto Sirius’ wand.
A prefect stood on a chair and shouted something that Marlene couldn’t quite catch over the cacophony of panic. The pixies froze in midair and fell. The common room was no longer a buzz of panic and mischief. Sirius let out a laugh, looking over to where Peter and Remus stood. Peter looked worried and Remus, irritated.
“What did you do?” Marlene said, half laughing, half concerned. Before he explained himself, Mary came up to them hugging Marlene, “Thank god you’re okay! I thought you’d been taken by one of those pixies!” She hugged Mary back, patting her back, “Don’t worry about me!” she sighed, “Where’s Lily?” Marlene added, “Right here,” A voice from behind her said. She turned and sure enough Lily stood behind her, looking dishevelled, but with a bright smile on her face.
“Come on we better help get this cleaned up and then I need to go to the library,” Lily laughed, leading her friends off to help clean up the mess.