The Next Great Adventure (A Marauders Fan Fic)

Chapter Thirteen

"Hufflepuff won," he replied with a smirk. "You are celebrating alongside us or did you just jump up for the sake of it?"

James sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "I don't know Moony, my brain just turned off for a minute there."

"Well you saw it didn't you?" he said. "You must've seen the catch."

James shook his head embarrassedly. "No... I missed it."

"It was amazing!" Peter cried as Moony sighed. "Of course you didn't," he teased, directing a knowing look at where Lily was giggling as she watched Cassie jump up and down, their entwined hands waving above their heads. "Well you really missed out," he added as they began to file out of their seats and head down to the grounds.

As they walked back towards the Gryffindor Tower Lupin pointed out that they had won the Quidditch Cup. "This'll call for a party," he said, already grinning in anticipation.

"Do we have the supplies?" James asked, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I thought we'd used them all up when we had that midnight feast last month."

"Yeah we did, we'll have to do a run into Hogsmeade just before. I've been wanting to pick up some more Chocolate Frogs and some of the Honeydukes' Classic for a while," Moony agreed. "If you start setting up I'll take the cloak and get the supplies."

"Nah you'll need two people to carry the stuff back," he said. "When we get back to the tower I'll just get everyone to pass it on and then we can take the hump-backed witch on the third floor; we should be ready by about eight then and we'll be able to celebrate properly. I have to make sure that you don't get too carried away as well; your love of chocolate is... worrying to say the least!" James rubbed his hands together, savouring the satisfaction, closely blended with ecstatic delight, which came with winning the Quidditch Cup in his first year as Captain. It had never felt quite as good as it did now and he knew that when Dumbledore presented it to him at supper and he hoisted it into the air – even when he was just a member of the team next to nothing could beat that feeling so he was sure that it would be an exquisite memory.

While the whole house sat at the Gryffindor table James whispered to the people on either side of him to pass on the information about the party; excited whispers rippled down the benches and the eyes of the Gryffindors lit up in anticipation. As Dumbledore stood up and silence fell, James felt a shiver of exhilaration ripple down his back and he couldn't fight his ecstatic smile.

"Good evening." Dumbledore's voice resounded through the hall and anyone who was still talking quietened down, a thousand interested faces turning to watch him. "As I am confident all of you know the final match of Hogwarts' Quidditch Cup was played today and it was a wonderful one if I may be permitted to say so. Anyway, as we have now reached the end of the competition it falls to me to award the cup to the winning house. Before I do so, however, I would like to commend you all on your healthy support of your house teams and the excellent playing of your team members over the year. So, without any further ado, here are the positions. In fourth place is Hufflepuff," Dumbledore paused to allow the lacklustre applause from the rest of the school to die down before continuing, "in third place is Slytherin." If anything the applause was even less enthusiastic than it had been for Hufflepuff – at least the Hufflepuffs had clapped with a smile on their faces. "In second place is... Ravenclaw-" A loud groan emanated from the Ravenclaw table and James chuckled to himself; Dumbledore was barely able to make himself heard over the cheers of the Gryffindor table as they jumped to their feet and screamed with happiness. Dumbledore's twinkling eyes beckoned James over and he stood up, strolling between the table to where the Headmaster stood, the shining silver cup between his hands. He handed it to James and shook his hand firmly, smiling behind his beard. "Well done Mr Potter," he murmured. "You've done very well. And made Professor McGonagall very happy which is an added bonus. Perhaps she'll hold off on the detention for a month or so next year."