Mischievous-A Marauders Fanfic

4-Quidditch Trials

"Let Orson play his last year" Halley reasoned. James sighed.

"Alright. But if we lose this year, Slytherin will be unbeaten for a decade. And I'm blaming you, Halley Derwent, if that happens."

Halley pouted at him.

"I might try out next year" she said stubbornly. "That's all you're getting."

"Come on, Porcupine" James called, sticking a sausage roll in his pocket and clambering up, Sephy behind him, snaffling an apple from the bowl.

They ate their snacks on their way down to the Quidditch grounds, chatting along the way. They had changed before dinner to save time, and as they got their brooms out of the storage they were the first ones there.

"Do you think Halley'll ever play, Potter?" Sephy asked, as they walked out onto the pitch. It was getting to sunset, and the shadows were growing long, the stands around the two teenagers bathed in gold.

"Well" James sighed, leaning philosophically on his broom. "Nashville's in his seventh year now, too, isn't he? They'll need a new captain next year. And, assuming we both make the team, which I'm sure I will, that gives it a 2 out of 7 chance of it being one of us two. We can just put her straight on the team, then. Fly?"

"Sure" Sephy smiled. "There's a bag of tennis balls down by the store. I can hit them, and you can catch them."

"Standard Beater-Seeker drill" James smirked, whipping out his wand. "Accio ball-bag!"

The bag of balls soared from the store and landed neatly in James's hand. Sephy waved her own wand, and a Beater's bat rocketed free and nearly hit her in the face.

"Nice try" James said mockingly. "You'll be better with practice, Pompadour."

Sephy scowled at him and kicked off, bat in hand. James kicked off from the ground also, and the two of them circled in the air, James throwing the bag of balls to Sephy, who hung them on the end of her broomstick.

Sephy then pulled a ball free and, as James circled away to a sensible distance, whacked it hard towards him with all the force of a small girl who had been an excellent Beater for two years prior.

"Sheesh, Pterodactyl!" James yelled. "Hve you been working on that swing or have you been working on that swing?"

"My parents took me to America for a bit of the summer!" Sephy shouted back, smacking another ball slightly short of James, who had to dive to catch it.

"We were staying with Muggles!" Sephy added. "And they taught me how to play baseball!"

She slammed another tennis ball flat hard at James's head, and he ended up having to duck out of the way.

"Could you not aim it at my face?" he yelled. "I'm supposed to catch them, not stop them killing me!"

"Sorry!" Sephy giggled, swerving right a bit and aiming for the stands to James's left. He darted off after it, catching it neatly and pulling up short before he hit the stands. Sephy shrugged praisingly before smacking another one high and to her own left, sending James speeding the other way to catch it. They carried on like this for another fifteen or so minutes, before a piercing whistle brought them both back down to earth. The current Gryffindor Quidditch captain, Jake Nashville, a slightly squat, toughly built seventh year Beater with a face not too dissimilar to a monkey's, was standing amongst a small gaggle of potential team members, and all of them were watching James and Sephy as they floated meekly down to earth.

"Well?" Nashville said, briskly and concisely, as despite his slight Neanderthal look he really was remarkably clever. "Shall we get started? Chasers first."