Capture the Flag
James
A lot had happened in the last few days. Regulus Black came to Camp Halfblood. Lily Evans had been transported to the infirmary by Mulciber. Sirius had tried to talk to Regulus, but it didn't really go well.
James had worked out with Sirius what he should say that evening. But James should have known that an impulsive person like Sirius couldn't stick to preconceived plans.
To his knowledge, Sirius and Regulus hadn't spoken since that fateful dinner.
James knew that this whole situation was really bothering Sirius. But he was sure that this evening would please Sirius.
Because on this day, there was finally going to be another round of Capture the Flag.
This game was legendary at Camp Half-Blood. Capture the Flag was a huge cross-country game in the forest. The team was divided into two teams, each with a captain. All weapons were allowed. There was only one rule: don't kill each other.
Sirius loved Capture the Flag even more than James himself, and that's saying something.
So it was that all the campers were standing in the large clearing of the forest, helping each other get ready.
James was just about to put on his breastplate when Minerva asked for silence.
‘My dear campers, it is time to appoint the captains.’
A murmur went through the crowd. The election of captains was always an interesting part of the programme. Minerva cleared her throat to silence the campers again.
‘As I said before, I will now appoint the captains. The office of captain must be accepted.’
James smiles softly. There aren't many people who would turn down the captaincy anyway.’
Minerva held up both flags.
‘The captains pick up their flag when I call him or her.’
She looked round once and nobody dared to make a sound. Finally, she held up the blue flag.
‘Sirius Black!’
Sirius winked at James as he strutted forward to grab the flag. A few campers even cheered. Sirius made a big show of bowing to Minerva.’
‘My dearest Minnie, it's an honour.’
He then grabbed the flag, held it over his head and shouted loudly to the crowd.
‘Let's go!’
The campers applauded. Minerva pinched the bridge of her nose.
‘Don't make me regret my decision, Mr Black.’
Sirius just grinned at her. Afterwards, he went back to his place next to James. All the cheering had died down. The second captain was elected.
James was excited, but he didn't hope to be captain himself. Normally he had no problem with that, but he would be reluctant to compete against Sirius. Minerva held up the red flag.
‘Remus Lupin!’
James turned his head quickly to Remus, who had a horrified look on his face. Sirius seemed just as surprised as he was. James saw Lily nudge Remus and say something, but he couldn't make out what exactly. Slowly, Remus walked forward to Minerva. Wordlessly, he picked up the flag and stood by Lily again. Minerva clapped her hands together.
‘Now that that's settled, Sirius, Remus, please stand on opposite sides. The rest of you, split up.’
James stayed right by Sirius' side and walked with him in one direction. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Lily doing the same with Remus.
James noticed that Sirius kept looking into the crowd. It was clear that he was looking for Regulus. James didn't think the odds looked good that Regulus would volunteer to be on Sirius' team.
Unfortunately, he was right. Sirius‘ looked slightly disappointed when Regulus went to Remus’ side. James didn't like it when Sirius was sad. Maybe it was time James had a chat with Regulus.
Remus
Well, crap. That wasn't good at all. What was Minerva thinking? Remus could understand why Sirius had been chosen. He was a born leader.
But Remus? He had no idea why Minerva would choose him. Remus was all the more shocked when he saw how many campers came to his side. He had been convinced that pretty much everyone would side with Sirius.
But besides Lily, who he knew would stay with him, Regulus also joined him. Pandora and Evan joined them as well. Regulus and Evan nodded briefly to each other. Remus didn't know when they had met, but all the better.
After they had walked into the forest for a while, Remus came to a halt. Everyone looks at him. Remus felt his hands start to twitch. Like many other demi-gods, he had ADHD and was hyperactive. He cleared his throat. Everyone immediately fell silent.
‘Most of you have fixed positions in which you feel comfortable. I don't want to interfere there. You take on these roles now too. You split up into five groups and move towards the enemies. Lily, you join a group and coordinate the attack from there.’
To Remus' surprise, everyone followed his orders without protest. He didn't miss Lily joining the group that Pandora was already in.
Remus addressed the crowd again.
‘Regulus, Evan, you're still with me. I have assignments for you.’
The two nodded to him and stood by him. After everyone else had left, Remus turned to Regulus.
‘I want you to go after the others. But inconspicuously. While the opposing team is distracted by the attacking groups, you sneak past and get the flag. I know you can do it. If it doesn't work, Lily and the other groups can still get the flag.’
Regulus nodded at him.
‘That's a very clever plan. The others won't be expecting it.’
With those words, he walked off in the same direction the rest of their team had disappeared in earlier. Remus watched him go. He had complete faith in the younger Black Brother. Regulus was skilful and knew how to keep a low profile. Besides, Remus was sure that Regulus would be able to fight his way through. A storm broke during his argument with Sirius. And it certainly wasn't a natural storm.
Remus turned round to Evan. Remus knew that Evan was an excellent archer.
‘I have a job for you.’
Remus reached into his tool belt and pulled out a bundle of arrows.
He had found an old bunker in the forest some time ago. It turned out to be Bunker 9, which had been owned by the Hephaestus cabin many years ago. Remus had found a kind of magical tool belt there, where he could store all his tools and small inventions. It had been very useful so far.
The arrows he now handed to Evan were his own creation. They were arrows that triggered a mechanism on impact so that thin metal threads shot out of the tips and caught the victim. Remus was particularly proud of these threads, as they could not be cut by weapons.
Evan looked at the arrows curiously. He raised an eyebrow.
‘So what's my mission now?’
Remus began to explain.
‘The arrows can capture people. If any campers break through our lines and get too close to the flag, you shoot them with these arrows.’
Evan nodded slowly. He stowed the arrows in his quiver.
‘And where should I position myself?’
Remus pointed upwards.
‘My suggestion is that you keep watch in one of the trees.’
Evan grinned.
‘That's clever. No one ever thinks to look up.’
Remus nods approvingly. That will work. He turned round and started walking towards their flag. But Evan called after him.
‘And what are you doing, oh great leader?’
Remus just smiled.
‘Making sure our flag is out of reach.’
Regulus
Regulus wanted to do his job well. Remus had put his faith in him and he would fulfil his mission.
Funnily enough, he didn't feel pressurised. He was kind of... excited? In a good way?
Regulus knew what it felt like to have high expectations placed on him. All his life, he had acted under the scrutinising gaze of his mother. Sometimes he could still feel her cold fingers wrapped around his face like claws, threatening to suffocate him. Her emotionless eyes gazed at him. ‘Don't disappoint me, Regulus, my darling boy.’
But this assignment Remus had given him didn't bring out that feeling of trepidation. He felt good. Alive.
Regulus didn't know the last time he had felt like he did at that moment, sneaking through the forest.
After a while, he could make out voices and the sounds of fighting. He recognised Lily's voice shouting something to her teammates. Regulus avoided the source of the noise and continued to search for the enemy flag.
To his surprise, he didn't meet any of the other campers.
After another five minutes or so, he suddenly saw something blue shimmering in the branches. Regulus couldn't believe his luck, for up in the trees hung the flag of their opponents. He was just about to start climbing when a branch suddenly snapped behind him.
Regulus whirled round, drew his sword and threw the intruder off his feet. In a split second, Regulus pinned the other boy to the ground with his forearm and held his sword high, ready to strike. The other boy grinned at him. He had unruly, black hair and glasses that were slightly askew. Regulus suppressed the urge to straighten them. Instead, he glared at the boy.
‘What are you doing here?’
The guy just smiled.
‘Regulus Black himself! What an honour! My name is James Potter.’
Regulus recognised the name. James Potter was the son of Hermes, who came to camp with his brother. He was also standing next to Sirius the day Regulus arrived at Camp Half-Blood. Regulus looked at him challengingly.
‘I don't trust any son of Hermes, Potter.’
James' eyes widened in surprise for a moment, but he quickly caught himself.
‘I see you've heard of me, then? I'm flattered.’
Regulus felt a blush creep over his face. He quickly stood up and turned his attention to the tree where the flag was hanging.
He started to climb, but suddenly he felt someone grab his foot. He looked down and there was James Potter, who was actually trying to stop him from getting the flag. Regulus looked at him warningly.
‘If you don't let go of me right now, I'm going to kick you in the face.’
Potter just laughed.
‘As if you'd actually go through with it.’
Regulus rolled his eyes. With a jerky movement, he pulled his leg up and gave Potter a kick. James fell to the ground, holding his nose.
Unfortunately, Regulus had no time for pity because he had a mission. Potter was still sitting on the ground when Regulus landed next to him with the flag in his hand.
James looked at him accusingly.
‘You really did it.’
Regulus winked at him and made his way to his own team's territory.
Sirius
Remus' plan was good. Too good. When Minerva had made Sirius captain, he had been thrilled. He loved Capture the Flag and was ready to lead his team to victory.
But when Remus' name had come up, Sirius knew that it might not be that easy. Remus was clever and creative, even if he didn't realise it himself. And his plan had been good. Very good.
Putting Lily in the lead had been a wise decision. It had been extremely difficult to break the line. Only he and three other campers had managed to get through.
And then there was Evan. He had taken them all completely by surprise. One of his team-mates had tried to throw a spear at him, but missed. Sirius was the only one to escape the hail of trap arrows.
It was clear, that the arrows were Remus' work. Truly a phenomenal development. Sirius will have to congratulate him.
When he escaped, he knew that it was now up to him. That's why Sirius couldn't believe his luck when the red flag lay open on a rock.
Looking back, he should have known it was too good to be true. But naïve as Sirius was, he headed straight for the rock. But when he was about three steps away from the flag, he heard a metallic whirring sound. And the next moment he had no more ground under his feet.
The net holding him in the air seemed to be made of the same material as the strings in Evan's arrowheads.
Sirius tried to cut himself free, but unfortunately without success. Whatever this net was made of, it was incredibly resistant.
Sirius didn't know how long he hung there, but it seemed like an eternity. It was quite possible that it was only two or three minutes, because his ADHD brain didn't always transmit accurate information.
To Sirius' astonishment, a loud trill was suddenly heard. The game was over. But as the red flag lay untouched in front of his nose, that could only mean one thing. They had lost. Remus had won. For some reason, he didn't think that was so bad.
Sirius was deep in thought when he heard a rustling sound. Out of the bushes stepped the man of the hour: Remus Lupin.
Sirius immediately put on a grin.
‘Remus! Congratulations on your victory! And on your... little invention here.’
When Remus saw him, he stopped abruptly.
‘Sirius! You've activated my trap!’
Sirius tried to nod, which was extremely difficult in his current situation.
‘I must say, a very effective trap. Now if you could perhaps free me...? That would be really marvellous.’
Remus immediately rushed over and began to pull on some of the strings of the net. With a loud whirring sound, the net unwound and dropped Sirius.
Remus had tried to catch him, but the momentum swept him off his feet. In the end, they both lay side by side on the floor.
Remus turned his head towards Sirius. They looked at each other and both started laughing. Remus stood up and held out his hand to Sirius. Sirius took it and stood up as well.
Together they made their way to the others.