She's a Snitch | James Potter | Marauders Era

FOURTY-SEVEN

"You didn't even lay a foot on the ground, woman!" he complained and Eloise turned slowly to look at him,

"I would really like to see you waddle around with your big-headed child currently INSIDE YOUR FUCKING BODY!" Eloise aggressively bit into her cocktail sausage and Sirius paused,

"Ok, I'll let you off." he placed a tender hand on her stomach, "Though, technically I carried three people up that monster of a mountain."

"Sirius Orion Black III." Eloise warned and Sirius help up his hands in surrender,

"Just saying." he muttered.

James ran his hand through Thalia's hair and his fingers danced up and down her arm. They both had smiles on their faces as they soaked up the afternoon sun relishing in their day off from Order meetings and missions. The Order had only been on three missions since they had graduated Hogwarts but the group knew they would be getting more and more frequent as they got closer and closer to the war. It was a dark time for the Marauders but they all agreed to forget about it for this one day and appreciate being eighteen. Thalia looked around at all her friends and felt very warm inside, they were all laughing and joking around. They looked like what they were supposed to: carefree teenagers when in reality, they were anything but.

"Sausage roll, Peter?" Sirius bellowed and a soft,

"Yeah, chuck it!" could be heard from the bottom of the hill as the boy obviously couldn't be bothered to get back up. Sirius wound his arm back and threw the sausage roll. It sailed over the group of friends and they all watched it bounce down the lush grass.

"Did you get it, Wormtail?" Sirius shouted,

"Yesh!" Peter cheered back, munching happily on his snack.

"Don't you lot think Peter has been acting strange lately?" Remus asked as he gave the small boy a strange look over his shoulder. The friends all frowned and disagreed, not thinking anything of it.

"I don't think he's been acting any stranger than the rest of us." Sirius' grey eyes bore into Remus' brown ones and everyone around them could sense the tension between them. At the last Order meeting, Dumbledore had raised concerns about a rat in the Order that had been relaying information to Voldemort. The members all had their suspicions of course but it seemed Sirius' and Remus' were slightly closer to home than everyone would have thought.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Remus bit back and Sirius' eyes narrowed dangerously. Eloise placed a hand on his arm to calm him down but to no avail,

"Who knows what you've been up to whilst 'rallying' the werewolves." he raised his fingers in inverted commas and James' eyes widened at Sirius' blatant accusation of their best friend,

"Pads..." he warned but Sirius didn't spare him a glance. Remus chuckled humorlessly, his jaw clenched tightly,

"How's Regulus?" the sandy-haired boy responded coldly and Sirius' steel eyes clouded with anger,

"I wouldn't know." he said icily and Eloise pinched the bridge of her nose,

"That's enough, the both of you." her voice was strained and Sirius finally tore his gaze from Remus, placing a hand on his pregnant girlfriend's back,

"I'm sorry." he whispered softly and Eloise's eyes pleaded with him to drop it, making Thalia think that it wasn't the first time Sirius had expressed distrust in Remus.

"Funnily enough this isn't the worst picnic I've ever attended." Thalia joked in an attempt to lighten the mood and James hopped on the bandwagon,

"Oooh darling, do tell." he leant back on his elbows and Thalia laughed gently,

"Josh Favour threw a mushy strawberry and it landed in Rosie Hawthorn's hair so she turned him into a squid." she explained and James laughed much louder than necessary, hoping everyone would join in...they didn't. After a few more moments of tense silence, James moved his finger as though he was a conductor and cleared his throat,

"A one, a two, a one two three: HOGWARTS HOGWARTS HOGGY WARTY HOGWARTS!"

"TEACH US SOMETHING PLEASE!" Thalia joined in, their three other friends staring at the grass with expressionless faces,

"WHETHER WE BE OLD OR BALD!"

"Or young with scabby knees." Eloise joined in quietly and Thalia leapt up, grabbing her friend's hands and making her dance with her as James provided the background music. A reluctant smile cracked on Eloise's face as Thalia spun around with her, laughing loudly.

"OUR HEADS COULD DO WITH FILLING!" James began to clap his hands and Sirius stood up with him, wrapping his arm around his best mate's shoulders,

"WITH SOME INTERESTING STUFF!" he sang much more in tune than James was and they both paused, and looked expectantly at Remus. The lycanthrope stared up at them before rolling his eyes and slowly getting to his feet,

"For now they're bare and full of air." he sang half-heartedly and his friends all booed,

"AWFUL PERFORMANCE!"

"YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT, MOONY!"

"ADD SOME EFFORT, MAN!"

"C'MON, MOONS! PUT SOME WELLY IN IT!"

"DEAD FLIES AND BITS OF FLUFF!" Remus bellowed and the rest of them cheered, Thalia and Eloise going back to dancing whilst the boys stood with their arms around each other, doing the can can,

"SO TEACH US THINGS WORTH KNOWING, BRING BACK WHAT WE'VE FORGOT, JUST DO YOUR BEST, WE'LL DO THE REST-"

"AND LEARN UNTIL OUR BRAINS ALL ROT!" Peter shouted up and the group collapsed into laughter, any animosity between them forgotten.