|
|
|
|
Chapter 5-A Saturday of Quidditch Practices and more Discoveries
It was once again breakfast time in the Great Hall. The first month of the school year had gone by in a blur of class, schemes, and snogging. Kat and Remus and Liz and Sirius were still going strong, and of course James and I were still together. Now, all I had to do was come up with my next plan was to get Alex and Peter together. Kat and Liz never ate meals at the Ravenclaw Table anymore. Quidditch practices started last week as the first match of the season draws nearer and nearer. Today was a beautifully warm fall day. The Quidditch match was next Saturday so we had Quidditch practice this afternoon, so we can’t enjoy the nice weather. Sad isn’t it? I sat down at the Gryffindor Table. Everyone was pretty much done eating, so we were all just talking about random stuff.
“So yeah, do you guys know that there is a full moon tonight!” Liz said matter-of-factly as she nibbled on her last piece of bacon. Liz was on my right, James on my left, and Sirius was on Liz’s right. Alex, Peter, Remus, and Kat sat across from us. I looked around at all my friends. The boys seemed a bit off at Liz mentioning the full moon. Remus had his face down, as did Kat. The other Marauders were shifting their gazes back and forth, as if someone was gonna pop out and scare them to death.
“Well that’s cool to know Liz.” I said finishing off my last piece of bacon. “So what does everyone have planned for today?” Half of the group groaned, and I knew which half that was. Sirius, James, Liz, Kat, and I had Quidditch practice later this afternoon. “Ok well let me rephrase that question. Alex, Remus, and Peter, what do you guys have planned for today?” Alex giggled with Peter. Remus looked a bit pale, but managed to produce a small chuckle.
“Actually, we were gonna watch your Quidditch practice!” Alex replied, still giggling. I let out a big sigh and laughed as well.
“I guess it is gonna be hard for you guys in that first match. Who are you gonna cheer for?” Sirius said arrogantly, waggling his eyebrows.
“Well…..” Remus, Alex, and Peter said in unison. The looked down at their plates. “We were gonna cheer for both!” Alex finished, clapping her hands together. Liz, Kat, Sirius, James, and I eyed the three of them suspiciously. I glanced up at the clock. It was only 10:30 a.m. and almost everyone was awake. The Great Hall was slightly empty, as some students were out enjoying the beautiful fall day. Ravenclaw had first Quidditch practice from 12:00-3:00. Then Gryffindor had the field from 3:00-6:00.
“Well since we have practice this afternoon maybe we can all hangout together later this evening?” Liz said smiling. This is when the boys got weird again. James picked up his fork and began working it around his plate, though there was nothing on it. Remus picked up a book and buried his face in it, and strangely Kat did the same thing. Peter was blushing furiously and trying to look away, Sirius just grinned. Liz, Alex, and I stared at all of them oddly. It was like they all knew something we didn’t. Time seemed to fly by as well sat in the Great Hall chatting. Before we knew it, it was 11:45 and Kat and Liz had to head off to Quidditch practice. We all exited the Great Hall, heading our separate ways. Alex, Peter, and Remus headed to the Quidditch field to watch the Ravenclaws practice, Kat and Liz went to change into their Quidditch robes, which left me with Sirius and James up in the Gryffindor common room. We gave the password to the Fat Lady and walked through the portrait hole. There wasn’t anyone in the common room, because basically everyone was outside. James made his way over to the couch and Sirius sat next to him. They were still acting a bit strange, and never did answer Liz’s question about hanging out tonight. Maybe they had something planned for just the four of them. Well then we could make it just a girls night. I would talk to Liz about that later. I walked over and sat in between Sirius and James, and the second I did it, I knew it was a bad idea. As soon as I sat down, Sirius and James got those goofy grins on their faces. They draped their arms over my shoulders and started chuckling.
“Ok Black….Potter…what is going on?” I said a bit of annoyance in my voice, rather than curiosity. It was also a bit weird referring to my boyfriend by his last name I shrugged it off and waited for them to reply.
“Oh well we were just wondering if you wanted to do something bad…..” Sirius said waggling his eyebrows for the second time this morning.
“No!” I stated bluntly. “There is no way I am going to get into trouble with you too!” I said angrily. I stood up glaring at them.
“Oh but Gabby dearest, you have no idea what we have planned, won’t you listen to us before you judge?” Sirius said, giving me another puppy-dog look. I was really getting tired of those, I am surprised Liz doesn’t hex him every time she sees one.
“Fine what is it….” I grumbled under my breath. I sat back down, this time on James’s other side, so that Sirius wasn’t near me.
“Well we were thinking of using the Marauders Map to look at the Ravenclaw Practice so that we can………….” I hadn’t let Sirius finish what he was saying. I had my wand out and pointed at him. James looked a bit frightened that I might hurt him too.
“How could you possibly think that I would wanna cheat against my own best friends!!!!” I screamed angrily. My voice echoed off the walls of the common room. I wouldn’t be surprised if people outside could hear me. I swiveled my head to look at James. “Did you have any thought in this plan! Because surely you as Captain, didn’t wanna cheat, did you” I continued to yell angrily. I sounded like Liz. But I am she would’ve already hexed them by now.
“No I swear!” James said quickly. He moved in front of Sirius to shield him. “Just don’t hurt Padfoot, he was just being stupid!” James finished. Sirius cast James a quick look. I took a big deep breath and shoved my wand back in my pocket and sat angrily on the couch.
“Thanks mate.” Sirius breathed a sigh of relief. “Gabby love, you know I was just kidding right.” I gave him the most evil look I could possibly conjure on my face.
“Now you tell me!” I grumbled angrily. James stared at me, still frightened by my temper. “I am sorry, but you don’t joke like that around me, especially when its about sports and my friends. I’m sorry I freaked out Black.” I said letting out another breath. “Trust me you don’t wanna piss me off on the Quidditch field, or I’ll take your Beater bat and knock you over the head with it!” I said threateningly. He winced in reply.
“Ok, ok, ok! I promise! Just don’t hurt me! Especially on the Quidditch field. We have to win, or Liz will never let me live it down.” Sirius pleaded.
“Alright, alright!” I replied rolling my eyes. “But just because, I wanna beat Ravenclaw as bad as you do. Even though Liz and Kat are my best friends.” I finished.
The time while Ravenclaw practiced seemed to fly by. James and Sirius were either joking around or talking strategy with me. I was either talking strategy with them, laughing, or threatening them. Before we knew it, it was 2:50 and time to get ready. I ran up to my dormitory and threw on my Quidditch robes and grabbed my robe. I moved my wand from my school robes to my Quidditch robes, just in case. I came down the stairs, and James and Sirius weren’t there. I decided to head out to the Quidditch pitch without them.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
I arrived in the Quidditch field. The Ravenclaw team was just landing. Kat and Liz were beaming at me as they passed. I smiled and mounted my broom, flying into the air. I looked out to the stands and saw Alex and Peter waving at me frantically, Remus was hurrying out of the stands, probably off to be with Kat. I looked around. I saw the other members of the Quidditch team. The Keeper, Zachary Johnson, Chasers, Heather Flaten, and my sister Lola, who was very good for such a young age, and one of our Beaters Nicole Flythe. I smiled at all my teammates, and then frowned. Someone was missing. It only took a matter of seconds for me to realize who. James and Sirius. I scanned my eyes all around the field. They weren’t in the stands, and obviously not in the air. I landed on the ground and pulled the balls out of the storage closet.
“Ok everyone get down here!” I shouted. Everyone landed on my command. “I have no idea where James and Sirius are right now but the game is……” My voice was cut off by a small firework zooming in front of our small circle, and exploding. All of us whipped our heads around, but there was no one around. Suddenly James and Sirius came flying past us. My long blonde hair blowing past. I turned around angrily glaring at them. They had fireworks in their hands, and mischievous grins on their faces. “What are you guys doing….wait don’t answer that, I know what you are doing! Wasting our Quidditch practice, that’s what!” I mounted my broom, waiting for them to run away. Sirius let off another firework, which zoomed around my hair and blew up above my head. I continued to glare at them angrily. “Will you guys just knock it off!” I screamed as I sped after them. I was mostly chasing Sirius, since James hadn’t launched a firework at me yet, and I use the term yet, very loosely. Sirius was way better dodger than I thought, though I was quicker and had sharper reflexes since I was a Seeker. “Sirius, get back here so I can kill you!” He had let off another firework that almost smacked me in the face. Sirius let off more fireworks left and right. I looked in the stands and saw that Alex and Peter were laughing their arses off. After what seemed like forever, Sirius and James finally ran out of fireworks. They landed on the ground, as did I. Our other teammates, and Alex and Peter were all laughing. Sirius looked a bit scared, and James just had a grin on his face.
“Well that was sure fun. Why don’t we start practice now, eh?” Sirius said grinning. I fumed in anger but just left him alone, until after practice. James, being the wonderful captain he was started practice immediately, and it wasn’t a bad practice. Our team was strong, and we worked well together. After 3 hours of practice, it was finally over. The sun was shrinking over the horizon, setting an orange glow around the grounds as we made our way back to the common room.
“What were you two trying to pull out there!” I was yelling at them as we entered the common room. Alex, Peter, Remus, Kat, and Liz were there, all looking at us. “Seriously, were you trying to be complete idiots, and waste practice.” There were others words I wanted to say like, Don’t you wanna beat Ravenclaw on Saturday! But Liz and Kat were right there, and I didn’t want to be rude. I sat down on the couch in between Liz and Kat.
“Come on Gabby love.” James cooed. “We were just having a bit of fun.” He had moved Liz over and sat down next to me.
“Ok well it was a bit fun I have to admit, but you should’ve picked a different practice to have fun, then a week before our first match!” I whined. “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.” I said, giving up finally. “You’re the captain, and I expect you to hold the title with a bit more maturity and responsibility.”
“Alright, I am sorry.” James said, using Sirius’ puppy dog. The only difference was it looked good on him, and just idiotic on Sirius. “So who’s ready for dinner?” James said, as my stomach let out a grumble.
“Me!!” I said jumping up
_____________________________________________________________________________________
We were all downstairs in the Great Hall for dinner. Sirius and James were stuffing their faces as usual. I was stuffing my face too, since I was so hungry, I just didn’t make it as apparent.
“So girls slumber party in the Ravenclaw Common Room tonight!” Liz said clapping her hands together.
“Yay!” Alex and Kat said at the same time. I just nodded me head, since my mouth was full of food. I swallowed hard and smiled.
“Yes sleepover just with girls….because the guys are too “busy” to hangout with us.” I said putting air quotes around busy and glaring at the boys, who now had their heads down staring at their plates. Liz and Alex glared too. I looked over at Kat, who had her head down like this morning at breakfast. “Hey Kat, what’s up?” I said sounding concerned. She looked up at me with an emotionless expression for a few moments before she smiled.
“Nothing. I am fine. What makes you think something is wrong?” Kat said happily. After that, she kept smiling. I still felt something was wrong, but tonight was gonna be a fun night. I shrugged my shoulders and pushed my plate away.
“So everyone done?” Liz said, clapping her hands together once more. “I have got so much planned for tonight!” She said smiling. Liz had her bag of confetti in her hand again. She threw a little bit in the air and put the rest back. Maybe she was saving it for later. Who knows.
“Yes I am done. Lets get going!” I said enthusiastically. All of us stood up. We exited the Great Hall. The boys headed upstairs to the Gryffindor Common Room, and the girls headed to the Ravenclaw Common Room. We arrived at the door and it spouted out one of its classic riddles.
“The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are they?”
“Footsteps.” Kat and Liz replied before I had time to even think of the riddle. We arrived in the common room to find a couple of Ravenclaws hanging out. Some of them glared at Alex and I, since we were Gryffindors, but I was used to that by now. We followed Liz and Kat up to their dormitory. We entered a room with 4 beds. One, I assumed was Liz’s was the one with the bed unmade, and her books, quills, and broom sprawled all over. Kat’s bed was made, and her things were neatly placed on the trunk at the end of it. The two other beds probably belonged to other Ravenclaw girls. I wondered if Jordan was one of them. As if on cue Jordan entered the room carrying a few of her things. The moment she saw Liz and I, her face froze with fright. She threw her things on her bed and ran.
“Wow, I didn’t know you had to share a room with the devil!” I scoffed, as did Liz.
“Well since that little confrontation before Potions a month ago, she doesn’t even talk to us anymore.” Liz said before flopping down on her bed. Kat was a bit quiet again as her and Alex sat on her bed.
“So where are Gabby and I gonna sleep?” Alex asked curiously. It appeared that a small light bulb went off in Liz’s head. She jumped off her bed. She disappeared in the closet for a few moments before bringing out two sleeping bags. “Well, thanks for answering my question.” Alex said giggling.
“Wow you really like sleepovers, huh Liz.” I said, giggling at her enthusiasm. We sat on Kat and Liz’s bed chatting for a bit. Apparently I wasn’t the only one curious about what the boys were doing this evening. Kat was a bit quieter during this portion of the chat. I was still a bit worried that she knew something we didn’t. Before I knew it, the sun had sunk completely over the horizon, and the full moon hung over the night sky. I ran to the window and glanced up at it. “Look how pretty it looks. Hey what time is it?” I said looking up at the clock. It was 9:30 p.m. I looked back out the window. I scanned the grounds. It was all dark so it was a bit hard to see. Suddenly, I noticed something moving. It appeared nothing was there, but with every step a leaf blew in the air. “Hey guys come here, come look at this.” Kat, Alex, and Liz came over and peered out the window. I wasn’t sure if they saw the same thing as me, but I sure thought I saw something.
“Hey look there!” Alex said. She was pointing towards the Whomping Willow. There I noticed a medium-sized black dog. It was behaving oddly. Suddenly a deer…or was it a stag? Well anyways a stag or deer appeared next to it. I was curious because you don’t normally see dogs and stags hanging out together. Before I knew it they had disappeared into the Whomping Willow. I exchanged glanced with Alex and Liz. Kat had stayed on her bed.
“What was that we just saw?” Liz cried in shock.
“I have no idea…maybe we should go see the boys, maybe they would be interested in figuring out the mystery.” I said heading to the door of the dormitory.
“NO!” Kat screamed from the bed. I didn’t even see that she went back to the bed. I stared at her in disbelief.
“No….what do you mean no. Why shouldn’t we go see the boys?” I asked her curiously, eyeing her suspiciously. I knew something funny was going on, and maybe now we would get a confession.
“Well, its just, maybe you guys should just ignore what you saw, and just enjoy the sleepover.” She said twiddling her fingers and staring at the floor.
“Weeeelllll, I don’t wanna do that. I wanna explore this strange phenomenon.” Liz said following me to the dormitory door.
“I’m with them. Sorry Kat.” Alex said coming over to Liz and I.
“Guys, seriously. You really don’t want to do this…” Kat said, a bit of anger in her voice. She really was acting strange like she already knew what was going on.
“No Kat! We’re going” I said crossing my arms. Liz already had her hand on the door handle, before out of nowhere, Kat zoomed past me and tackled Liz to the ground. I stared in horror watching them struggle on the ground.
“Kat…..get…..off!!” Liz screamed. Kat was now sitting on top of Liz.
“No, not before you promise you won’t go looking for trouble!” Kat pouted back, her arms crossed.
“Ok fine. We wont go, but you’ve got tell us why you are acting so funny.” Liz said, pushing Kat off her and standing off her pajama bottoms, which had froggies on them. Now that I thought about it, we all had really different pajama bottoms on. Liz, had froggies, Kat had well cats and Alex was wearing squirrel boxers. Me, I had awesome penguins! I mean, who doesn’t like penguins?
“Yeah, Liz is right, you have been acting strange all day Kat, what is up?” I said, concerned.
“See, that’s not fair…I can’t tell you that either…” Kat said putting her head down again..
“Why not?” Alex chimed in, also concerned. Liz was still dusting off her froggies pants.
“Because I promised….” She said her voice trailing off.
“What, who did you promise?” I asked frantically. I wanted answers, and I could see Alex and Liz did too.
“Remus…” Kat replied quietly. Alex, Liz, and I exchanged second glances. Thoughts were running through my mind. For some reason, and I believe Liz and Alex were probably thinking this too, but for some reason, the stag and dog being together, the boys hanging out alone tonight, Kat’s strange behavior all day, and tonight being a full moon, seemed directly related.
“Kat, we will let you keep your promise to Remus, but we are still going to the Whomping Willow to see where the stag and dog went!” Liz said heading for the door again.
“I agree.” Alex and I said in unison. I heard Kat sigh. She knew she wasn’t going to win. We grabbed our coats and scarves and headed out the Ravenclaw dormitory, still in our awesome pajama pants.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
We all stood in front of the massive tree. Alex, Liz, and I contemplating how we were gonna get into it. Kat stood, her arms crossed, staring at the ground.
“So how do we do it??” Alex repeated for the fifth or so time.
“I don’t know…maybe a spell?” I said curiously.
“It can’t be a spell. They were animals!” Liz cried. “There has got to be a way though…” Liz also repeated for the seventh time.
“Well I think you guys should just leave well enough alone…” Kat muttered, we all ignored her. I thought long and hard. There had to be some way….some spell…of some sort. But none of us could figure it out. I looked over. Alex was thinking hard, as was Liz.
“I got it!” Alex shouted, jumping up and down. She pulled her wand out from her pocket and pointed it at the tree.
“Immobulus” Alex said. The tree stopped swaying, like it was frozen.
“Way to go Alex!” I said giving her a high five. Liz clapped her hands together.
“Ok, who is going in first!” Alex said backing up. Liz backed up too.
“Fine…I guess that’s me….” I said cautiously. I took a deep breath and a gulp escaped my throat. I walked cautiously towards the tree and discovered the entrance. It was a bit small, and hard to see with the trees branches swaying. Now that the tree was frozen it was easy to see. I motioned for the girls to follow. Kat followed reluctantly. We walked along what seemed like a dark corridor. Something, I think it was wood, creaked under my foot as we walked.
“This is crazy dark…oh duh!” I pulled out my wand. “Lumos.” I muttered. A glow formed at the end of my wand. I continued to walk. It was like the corridor would never end. Suddenly we arrived at a door. It was solid and wooden like the walls and floor. “Where are we….?” I muttered. I opened the door slowly to discover a staircase. I walked up the staircase, the steps creaking. After a few steps I arrived at another door. Light was pouring from the cracks around it. I pressed my ears to the door. There was small muffled sounds, but I had no idea what they were. “Come here, listen, do you hear anything?” I whispered to Liz, Alex, and Kat. They all pressed their ears to the door and shook their heads.
“Should we open it?” Liz whispered. Alex nodded. Kat shook her head. I took another deep breath. “Nox.” I muttered putting the light out on my wand. I turned the knob of the door and swung it open. The first thing I expected to see was a black dog and a stag, but what I saw instead was Sirius and James. My mouth dropped in shock and disbelief. My eyes swiveled the room. In the corner was what looked like a bundle of blankets, and a table near the corner with a rat sitting on it. My mouth was still hanging open, as was Alex’s and Liz’s. Kat’s eyes were glued to the “bundle of blankets” in the corner. This all happened in a matter of seconds, by the way. I closed my mouth and reopened it to speak but James and Sirius had their wands out pointed at us.
“Silencio!” They both cried. I tried to speak, but couldn’t. “Now we did that so we can explain before you girls start screaming at us.” James said quietly. He led me over to the couch. Sirius did the same to Liz and Alex just followed. Kat stood in the doorway staring at the blankets.
“Is he….ok….” She muttered. Apparently they hadn’t put the spell on her. Which made me wonder…
“He just transformed…he will be fine.” James said giving Kat a comforting smile. Transformed? He? Who? What was going on? I was so confused. I gave James a look that said Explain-now-and-remember-I-still-have-my-wand.
“Ok, well I have no idea how you guys got here, but I guess we have to explain.” James said looking at Sirius. “Wanna start mate?”
“Sure.” Sirius said nodding. “Alrighty then ladies first of all, I will start out by saying that James, myself, and you guys aren’t the only ones in this room. Remus and Peter are here too.” After the words left his mouth I scanned the room. Suddenly the rat on the table jumped off and turned into Peter. My mouth hung open again.
“Ok….I didn’t know that you were all that way….” Kat muttered, her eyes still on the blankets.
“Yeah we all are. Peter is a rat. I am a dog, and James here is a stag. We are all Animagus.” I still stared in disbelief, my eyes swiveling the room still. I saw Peter, James, and Sirius, but where was Remus? I looked at the blankets that Kat wouldn’t take her eyes off of. Was Remus under those blankets? I wondered. I looked over at Liz who was giving Sirius a why-didn’t-you-tell-me-this look.
“I am sorry love.” Sirius said, kissing Liz on the cheek. “Well we are all Animagus, and the reason we are all out here is because it is our dear Remus’ time of the month.” I raised my eyebrows slightly and looked out the window. The full moon…Kat’s worry…Remus’ time of the month? Sirius was meaning that Remus was a werewolf! Once again, my mouth dropped open. This was a lot to find out in one evening. My heart was beating fast.
“Yes our dear friend Remus is a werewolf. He has been for some time now. We didn’t find out until 3rd year, and we’ve only been Animagus since last year.” James said. “Every month, Remus would have to come here all alone and become a werewolf. Well since 3rd year, we have been trying to become Animagi so our mate didn’t have to be alone. Well finally last year we managed it, so everyone month, we come with him here. That’s why we’ve been secretive about what we were doing tonight. Sorry. So Sirius, should we let them speak now?” James finished. I heard Sirius mutter the un-silence spell, but I still couldn’t speak.
“So?” The boys said in unison.
“Wow…..” Alex, Liz, and I muttered. Kat was now staring out the window, the moon had now settled behind the clouds and was starting to set. Kat looked down at the blankets which were now starting to move. Remus sat up starring around at everyone.
“Oh….” Was all he could manage to say. “Well I guess everyone knows I am a monster now huh?” Kat placed her hands on his shoulders and pulled him into a hug.
“Your not a monster…” Kat whispered. I smiled.
“She’s right your not a monster Remus.” I said. Liz and Alex nodded. I let out a small yawn.
“Well now that the mystery has been solved I think we should go to bed!” I said standing up and stretching.
“I think I will stay with Remus, you guys can go.” Kat said quietly. Remus nodded for his friends to leave. I held James hand and walked out of the Whomping Willow.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Alex, Liz, and I were in the Kat and Liz’s dormitory. The boys had wanted to stay and hangout with us, but we sent them to bed. Liz was in her bed and Alex and I were on the floor in our sleeping bags.
“A lot happened tonight. I can’t believe Kat knew that whole time.” I said to Liz and Alex.
“I know right!” Liz responded. “But I think its sweet that she kept her promise to Remus.” She finished smiling. “This would call for confetti, but I am too tired to get up and get it.” She rolled over in her bed, and I assumed she was going to pass out. Alex’s quiet, slow breaths told me she was out. I lay awake staring at the ceiling. The moon was completely out of the sky now, but the sun wasn’t up yet. I heard creaking on the stairs, and Kat entered the room quietly. I heard her climb into bed. I rolled over and fell asleep thinking of the nights events.
 Misses Prongs · Mon Nov 03, 2008 @ 12:24am · 1 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
