Better - The Marauders

FORTY-TWO

James grumbled in agreement whilst staring at the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. The Captain of the team, Adam Montgomery, gazed over at the group and smirked amusedly at the two boys on the table.

"All right, Potter?" He called and James let his mouth twitch into a sneer in his direction. "Hope nothing goes wrong today." His smirk only grew wider and it made Elladora quite nervous, like he knew something that James didn't. All four boys narrowed their eyes in his direction.

"Don't worry Montgomery, nothing will." James retorted. "My teams the best of the best and well...your team is about as useless as a knitted condom."

The other students that were entering the hall at that very moment erupted in laughter, Ravenclaw's and more Gryffindor's accompanied with a couple more Slytherins flooded in, it had just hit 9am. Remus choked on his drink from next to Elladora whilst she furrowed her eyebrows at the joke. Peter couldn't stop the chuckles emitting from his throat whilst Sirius patted his friend on the back.

Montgomery sneered over at them and decided not to reply and instead sat down in his seat, pulling some toast towards him whilst James smirked at his victory.

"Sirius," Elladora said and tugged on the cuff of his jeans to get his attention. He looked down at her and crouched so they were nearer eye level but he still looked down at her.

"Yes, my lady?" He asked with a raised eyebrow whilst James climbed off of the table, sliding back into his usual seat.

"What's a condom?" She said and he fell silent straight away, eyes widening about ten times the size. Remus choked on his drink for the second time whilst she just peered up at Sirius, waiting for his answer.

"Uh, I- um." He stammered over his words and then looked at James for help. "We gotta go." He hopped off of the table and pulled James up as Peter and Remus followed. Elladora pinched her eyebrows together in confusion and stood ready to follow.

"Guys, wait." She pulled her leg out from under the table and set off after them, the sleeves of Sirius' Quidditch jumper sliding down her arms after she had to push them up. Her legs were small but they worked fast enough to catch up to the boys, who smiled apologetically at her.

"Sorry Dora," James apologised. "But we have to be at the pitch by 10 which is why we left to get some extra practice in."

"It's okay," She panted, waving them off. The sleeve of the jumper draped over her finger tips as she crossed her arms. "Just remember that I can't walk or run as fast as you."

"That's because you're small." Sirius patted her on the head with a smile and she glared up at him, making him pull his hand away with a smile full of fear.

"So," She sighed as they stepped out of the entrance hall and the wind blew their hair back. "What's a condom?"

"Well, you see..."

•*•*•*•*•

She wished she didn't ask.

Sirius tried to say as little as possible, but she got the drift. Both were flushed messes by the end of it, red in the cheeks as they reached the Quidditch pitch. James and Sirius went into the changing rooms to set everything up for their team whilst Remus, Peter and Elladora settled on a game of 'piggy-in-the-middle' (a muggle game) where they threw and caught the Quaffle.

"Elladora in the middle." Peter laughed once again as she sighed and swapped places with Remus. It wasn't her fault that he practically towered over her and she couldn't possibly throw the Quaffle over to Peter when he only had to move one hand in the air to catch the ball.