Letters From A Stranger || James and Lily ||

Eleventh Hour

Sirius had already whipped out his wand, ready to find Snape right at the moment and hex him when, surprisingly, it was James who stopped him. "Not now, Padfoot. We need to sort out this situation first. Dealing with whoever did this can wait. The match is priority right now."

Sirius listened begrudgingly and they left the hospital wing one by one as Madam Pomfrey informed them that visiting hours are over.

~~~~~

Lily sat staring at the plate in front of her, so did Marlene.

"Why didn't Gryffindor have a backup seeker?" Lily asked, after moments of contemplation.

"We do." Peter who was sitting across the two girls answered, "But it's James."

"So?" Lily asked again, "He can be the seeker for one game. He joined the team as seeker after all so he has to be good at it. And Gryffindor has Frank as backup chaser. I don't see the problem here."

"James not being good enough is not the problem here, Lils." Marlene spoke up at last, "He is a good seeker, no doubt. But he's our star chaser too. Our other two chasers are new to the team. Frank isn't as experienced either. James is our strong point in chasing and we can't afford to not have him."

Peter nodded along. "Also because we have to cover up for all the points we lost after the last match against Ravenclaw so the chasers have to be strong."

Lily fell silent again, at loss for words. She couldn't possibly think of a way out of this. Marlene looked over to where James, Sirius and Gideon were trying to sort out the crisis. Judging from the looks on their faces, the discussion didn't seem to be going good.

Marlene was about to go over and join them when Peter dropped his fork onto the plate with a loud clink, staring at Marlene with his small eyes widened.

"What?" Lily and Marlene asked in unison, seeing his dumbstruck expression.

Peter didn't reply, his gaze moving from Marlene to Sirius and back to Marlene.

"Peter, what's wrong?" Lily asked again.

"We might not have a backup seeker but we do have a backup beater." Peter said, finally snapping out of whatever sudden epiphany he had.

Marlene frowned in confusion. "And that helps because?"

"Isn't Emmeline the backup beater?" Peter asked, suddenly excited.

"Yeah, but she can't be a seeker because she doesn't have the built for it. Seekers have to be lean because they have to be fast. Neither does she have the fast reflexes for seeking."

"She doesn't." Peter agreed, "But you do. And you're small too."

Marlene was so surprised that she forgot to be offended at being called small which she generally hated. "So you're saying I should be the seeker?"

"Yes." Peter said, relieved that she finally understood his point, "And Emmeline can take your place as beater. She doesn't have to be really good at it because we have Sirius."

Marlene sat thinking over it for a moment before she informed James and the others about it.

"Are you sure you can do this, Marly?" James asked.

"I'm not sure. But I can try. We have a week to practice." Marlene replied, "And this is the best plan we have at the moment."

James nodded in understanding then turned to Sirius. "What do you think?"

Sirius shrugged. "I'm okay with anything. And Mckinnon is the best option we have for a seeker right now. We'll just have to train her and Vance. And hope for the best. That's all we can do."