The Marauders: Year Two | #Wattys2016

Gunhilda of Gorsemore

"Oh t'sn't a problem," Hagrid said, waving off the thank you, "Saw yeh were up in the stands here from me house o'er there an' was thinkin' how it'd be nice ter take in a bit of Quidditch." He sipped from a stein he'd brought along - the thermos seemed to never empty of warm tea - and poured Sirius a fresh cup. "Where's lit'l Peter Pettigrew?" he asked as he poured out some more tea into his own stein as well.

Sirius breathed in the steam coming off the cup. "Oh Peter was still asleep," he answered with a shrug, "We didn't wake him. It was too early. Derek had James up at the crack of dawn to come out here!"

"Let him have a bit of a lie-in, did you? Mighty thoughtful of yer," Hagrid said, nodding and sipping his tea. Dribbles of it spilled over his beard as he drank deeply. "Ahhh," he breathed in appreciation for the warm liquid when he'd finished. "Up before the crack o' dawn," he shook his head, "Blimey if they don't work hard at Quidditch."

Sirius nodded, "They really do."

Harder than usual, actually, he thought. Derek seemed to be pressing the players to do more challenging plays and fly more laps than they usually did during practice. This suspicion was backed when James rejoined Sirius after practice had finally ended - nearly in time for lunch - and they were on their way back up to the castle after bidding goodbye to Hagrid. "Bloody hell," complained James, "Derek was a ruddy monster!" He shook his head, switching which shoulder he carried his broom upon, "You know, the only reason he finally ended the practice, even now, was because Bilis threatened mutiny if he didn't let up?"

"Can't say I blame him, mate," Sirius said with a laugh, "If it was half as cold on the pitch as it was up in the stands, I'd have called it long before even he did. Only reason I'm not frozen solid to the bench is thanks to Hagrid's tea!"

They stepped into the castle and on to the Great Hall, followed by the other Quidditch team members, and had their seats about the Gryffindor table, laughing as they pulled plates of food to themselves and began to thaw out in the warmth of the room. "There you lot are!" called Peter's voice a few minutes later. He crossed the Hall and joined them at the table, a cross look about his face, "Where were you? I woke up and found all the beds empty except my own!"

"James had practice first thing," Sirius explained, "And I couldn't sleep, so I went along to watch."

"Why didn't you wake me up, too?" Peter complained.

"Be glad we didn't, it was frigid out there," James said.

Sirius nodded, "The wind was howling through the stands and biting my nose clean off it seemed."

Peter pouted. It did sound rather awful, yet he wished they'd asked him along anyway, however terrible it would've been, he would've liked to have been included. "You always leave me out," he complained.

"What're you talking about? Don't be stupid," James said, "You were asleep!"

"You should've wakened me up," Peter argued.

"Whyever for? You aren't a part of the team," Sirius said.

"Well neither are you," Peter pointed out.

James answered, "Well he hopes to be next year, doesn't he? You don't."

"You would have wakened Remus," Peter said sourly.

Sirius rolled his eyes, "No we wouldn't have."

"If he'd been there, you would've," Peter argued.

Frank Longbottom looked over, suddenly tuning into the conversation. "Where is Remus?" he asked, looking over the three of them, realizing he wasn't there for the first time.