A couple of weeks later, Amelia and Eleanor woke up rather early, even though it was a Sunday. They had something planned.
Eleanor got the two striped Gryffindor Quidditch sweaters she nicked from James and Sirius out of her trunk and gave one to Amelia. They put them on and then disappeared into the bathroom to complete their look with red and gold facepaint.
"Looks good right?" Amelia whispered, looking at herseld in the mirror.
"Brilliant," Eleanor grinned. "Let's go." She patted Amelia on the back.
They tiptoed out of their dormitory and went downstairs into the common room. The boys weren't there, so that was good news.
But Marlene was there with her friends. She was already dressed in her Quidditch gear.
"Looking good guys!" she grinned at the two younger girls, giving them a thumbs up.
Eleanor and Amelia laughed before going up the stairs to the boys' dormitories. When they reached the door with a '5' on it, they stopped.
Eleanor very carefully turned the knob and then opened the door. She looked inside; it was dark, which meant they were still asleep. Eleanor looked over her shoulder and gave a confirming nod.
She slowly went inside and Amelia followed her, closing the door behind her quietly. They stood in the middle of the room. All four boys had their curtains drawn around their beds.
The girls looked at each other. Eleanor held up her hand and counted down from three with her fingers, mouthing the numbers to Amelia as well.
Three...
Two...
One...
"GOOOOOOD MORNING GRYFFINDORS!" Amelia bellowed.
Eleanor heard some stirring coming from the boys, but that wasn't enough for her. She stepped over to James' bed.
"Rise and shine! That Snitch won't just fly into your hands!" she yelled as she pulled his curtains open.
Meanwhile Amelia opened the heavy curtains in front of the windows to wake them up properly. "Look at that sunshine! Lovely day for a Quidditch match I'd say!"
Eleanor continued to open the curtaind around Peter's and Remus' beds as well. "Sure is Lia! But if these boys don't get off their lazy arses there won't be a win today!" she said, ruffling up Remus' hair.
"Oi gerroff!" he groaned, swatting away her hand.
Eleanor just smirked and made her way over to Sirius' bed. She pulled the curtains open and looked down at a just-waking-up Sirius.
"Morning handsome," she grinned down at him.
Sirius gasped and pulled uo the civers over his bare chest. "Excuse you! I'm naked!" he shrieked.
Amelia rolled her eyes and walked over to his bed as well. With one big tug she pulled his covers from his bed.
Even though she knew he wouldn't be naked, Eleanor was still a bit anxious to see what he was wearing. But she was relieved. Pajama bottoms, that's what he was wearing. Grey ones to be exact.
"Liar," Amelia said flatly before turning away from him.
Sirius sighed and looked up at Eleanor, who couldn't help but stare down at him. "Like what you see?" he said with a smirk.
Eleanor's cheeks flushed. "Oh shut up you," she chuckled and threw his blankets back on top of him. Sirius laughed and sat up straight.
James was sitting on the edge of his bed, running the sleep out of his eyes. His black hair was poking out on all sides.
"What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" he said, putting on his glasses.
Amelia raised her eyebrows and quickly glanced at Eleanor. "Us? You mean you! You're still in bed even though it's match day, and why on earth are you all shirtless except for Peter?! It's fucking March!" she exclaimed.
"But it gets hot in here because of the sun and everything's closed," Remus pouted.
"Then open a window," Amelia said in a matter-of-factly way. Eleanor laughed.
Peted got up and walked into the bathroom. "This is very unfair you know," he said while putting some toothpaste on his toothbrush.
"And why's that Petey?" Eleanor asked, sitting down on Sirius' bed.
"Becush ve can't do de shame do you guysh," Peter said as he brushed his teeth.
"Ooh that would be interesting wouldn't it?" Sirius grinned. He wrapped his arms around Eleanor's waist and pulled her further on the bed.
"Aaah Sirius stop!" Eleanor shrieked, trying to break free from his grasp.
Sirius laughed. "That's for stealing my sweater Lupin," he said in a low voice.
Remus threw his pillow at Sirius' head. "Oi stop it!" he yelled.
Because he was taken off guard, Eleanor escaped and stood next to Amelia.
"Now," she began with a sigh. "We'll see you at breakfast." Then the girls left without saying another word.
When they got back to the common room, Amelia and Eleanor high-fived each other. They then walked towards the portrait hole, both being very hungry after their amazing efforts.
They sat down at the Gryffindor table next to Marlene, Lily, Mary, and Alice, who had already started on their breakfast.
"Hey, what were you doing in the boys' dorm?" Marlene asked them when they had put some food on their plates.
A grin spread across Eleanor's face. "We woke them up in a very gentle way of course," she spoke calmly.
Mary raised an eyebrow at her. "So you screamed?"
"Of course we screamed," Amelia sniggered.
Lily sighed and shook her head. "I could be disappointed, but honestly, I didn't expect anything less from you two," she said and then took a bite of her toast.
Not half an hour later, the Marauders joined them at the table as well. Sirius and James were both fully dressed in their Quidditch clothes, showing off the Gryffindor pride.
"Good morning good morning," Sirius said happily as he sat down next to Eleanor. "Fancy seeing you here," he smirked at her.
Eleanor chuckled. "You just saw me as well," she said, nudging him in his elbow before eating the rest of her toast.
"Yeah but you forgot something," he said, leaning his elbow on the table and propping his head up on it so he could look at her.
She frowned and swallowed her food. "What d'you mean?"
But that question was answered as Sirius leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. Eleanor smiled as he pulled back, Sirius wearing his usual smirk on his face.
"Jesus Christ get a room," she heard Lily say with a little laugh.
"I wouldn't oppose to that," Remus said through gritted teeth, stabbing his toast with his fork while looking straight at Sirius.
Peter's eyes flicked from the massacre on Remus' plate to the boy's face. He gently took the form out of his hands and placed it down on the table. "Just in case," he mumbled.
They then all started or finished their breakfast. The Great Hall wad soon packed with people, mostly Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs showing their house colors.
"Talk me through the statistics Potter," Eleanor said to him after finishing his breakfast.
James nodded. "Right, so Ravenclaw lost to Slytherin last game, eighty to two hundred. So at the moment Hufflepuff and Slytherin are at a tie with two hundred and ten points, which means we really have to win this game big time to take the lead," he explained.
"I see, we're currently at how many points?" she asked, looking between Sirius and James.
"A hundred and eighty," Sirius immediately replied.
"McKinnon, Potter, Black!" Gryffindor captain Harper shouted from the other end of the table.
The three players rose from their seats. "I'll see you later," Sirius said and kissed her on the cheek. Eleanor smiled as she watched him walk away.
All of the other students who wanted to see the fourth match of the year left not longer after the teams. It was always quite a sight to see at least half of all the children at Hogwarts walk down the grounds.
Their usual group made its way up the stands. Although this time Kathy wasn't there with them; she'd been feeling a little under the weather since yesterday.
They took their seats in the front row and waited for the match to begin. It was a nice sunny day, perfect weather for a Quidditch match.
"They're Keeper's supposed to be quite good right?" Amelia asked the others.
Remus shrugged. "He's just pretty broad, not necessarily very agile," he explained. Amelia nodded.
"It's the Beaters they've got to watch out for," Mary tuned in on the conversation. "That Jadyn Law sent one of Ravenclaw's Chasers straight into the Infirmiray last time."
Peter got up. "They're here," he said, sounding excited.
The others immediately got up as well and started to cheer for them. Eleanor's face lit up when Sirius walked out onto the pitch.
"It's another beautiful day! Perfect for a match, ain't it Hogwarts?" Coy Tebbenham's voice boomed through the speaker. The cheers got louder and Remus whistled on his fingers.
"Captains Tobias Harper and Bobbie Watts shake hands, good lads. Mounting their brooms," he spoke.
Eleanor was watching anxiously. These last few moments before a match were always nerve-wracking. She noticed Sirius' eyes were scanning through the crowd. A handsome grin appeared on his face when his eyes met Eleanor's. She smiled back and waved.
"Madam Hooch releasing the Bludgers and Snitch, throwing up the Quaffle, AND THEY'RE OFF! Bain in possession!" he sounded very excited.
"Bain passing to Marshall- WATCH OUT MASSEY! Massey almost hit by a Bludger coming from Wootton there, missed him by hair."
"McKinnon has intercepted the Quaffle, passing to Black, Black dives to avoid Watts very good very good, passes back to McKinnon- SHE SCORES!" he roared.
Remus next to her whistled on his fingers. "YEAH GO GET 'EM MAR!" Mary creamed in her other side. Eleanor clapped enthusiastically as well.
"Right Gryffindor again in possession, Black trying to go for goal- Hufflepuff doing a Parkin's Pincer! Ladies and gentleman this is Quidditch! BUT NO BLACK DIVES AND MANAGES TO GET AWAY! He passes- ooooh Quaffle intercepted by Marshall."
"Damnit," Eleanor mumbled. She put her hands to her mouth and screamed, "COME ON SIRIUS YOU CAN DO IT! SHOW THEM WHAT YOU'RE MADE OF!"
Amelia chuckled. "Supportive girlfriend are ya?"
Eleanor flipped her hair. "Duh."
"Hufflepuff still- CHRISTOPHER IS DIVING! SHE'S AFTER THE SNITCH!"
All of them gasped. It didn't happen very often that James wasn't the first to spot the Snitch. But he was right on it.
"Potter of course going after her! They're way high up..." Coy had to put his hand above his eyes against the sunlight. "Oh- oh no they lost it!"
Remus facepalmed. "Prongs what re you doing?" he muttered.
"Oi give him a break, it's hard enough already," Lily said from behind him.
Everyone turned around to look whether she'd actually said that. But the red tints on her cheeks said enough. Remus raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you-"
But he was interrupted when a sound of shock went through the crowd. Eleanor instantly turned around again to see what had happened.
"Merlin's beard! Harper just knocked Hufflepuff Keeper Rudy Ralston off his broom!" Coy said, his voice filled with astonishment.
Eleanor leaned forward. Ralston was laying facedown on the ground, his broom about three feet away from him. Hooch and Pomfrey quickly ran onto the pitch with a stretcher and then carried him away.
"Ralston is out! This is going to be interesting ladies and gentlemen, because it is not allowed to have an extra join in the middle of the match! Hufflepuff's got no Keeper!"
Remus grinned. "This is good, this is really good." Eleanor sniggered.
They continued to watch the match. Because the Hufflepuffs felt so lost without their Keeper, Gryffindor scored one goal after the other. Eleanor couldn't stop smiling.
James' pursuit of the Snitch also didn't last long, he actually caught it without making that much effort, causing Doria Christopher to furiously stomp off the pitch afterwards.
"Gryffindor wins two hundred and thirty to thirty! That concludes the fourth Quidditch match this year! Only two more to go folks!" Coy shouted with a big smile on his face.
Eleanor watched the Gryffindor team huddle up together into a group hug. James and Sirius high-fived each other and Marlene received a pat on the back by the boys as well. They then disappeared into the changing rooms.
"Well, that was a good one," Remus said with a relieved sigh. "Gryffindor's taking the lead now."
They all nodded and got up. "Is there gonna be a party?" Amelia asked.
"Well, McGonagall thinks it isn't wise and that we should focus on our OWLs more," Peter said.
Eleanor chuckled. "So there's going tk be a party."
"Of course," Remus grinned.
Everyone made their way up to the castle again, and Peter and Remus made sure to sneak down to the Kitchen before joining the others in the common room. Lily and Alice had used several spells to decorate it in everything red and gold. It looked great, and they hadn't even won the Quidditch Cup yet.
They were all talking and having a drink when finally the long-awaited team entered the common room. The Gryffindors cheered and welcomed their heroes.
Eleanor smiled as she saw James, Sirius, and Marlene make their way over to where they were standing. Remus, who was sitting on the backrest of the sofa, whistled again and hugged both his friends.
Sirius then turned to Eleanor. "You did such a good job!" she said and hugged him.
"I know," he grinned. Eleanor laughed and pulled back. "It's cause you were watching," he said with a wink.
Eleanor smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Nah, you're always great," she said before kissing him. Sirius chuckled against her lips.
"Oi!" Remus yelled and smacked Sirius on the head with a cushion which he found on the sofa.
The two of them abruptly broke apart. "Ouch!" Sirius rubbed his head and glared at Remus. "Merlin what was that for?! I could've bit her lip you tosser!"
"Exactly! So stop eating my sister!" Remus yelped before aggressively eating a bread stick. Eleanor rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Believe me, if you saw me eating your sister you'd definitely do something else," Sirius mumbled, giving Remus a side eye.
Eleanor's face turned a lobster shade of red and she tried to avoid everyone's eyes. Amelia burst out into laughter, as did Marlene and Mary. James looked like he desperately wanted to get rid of that image in his head.
Remus eyes grew wide and he threw the remaining bit of bread stick at Sirius, who was laughing like a maniac at everyone's reactions.
"STOP - TALKING - YOU - FUCKING - WANKER!" Remus yelled in between slapping Sirius anywhere he could reach. Sirius, still laughing, covered his face with his hands and arms.
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry!" Sirius laughed. Remus was breathing heavily after he finally stopped abusing his best friend.
Sirius stood up straight again and put his hands in his pockets. He had a smug look on his face. "Of course I'd lock the door first-"
"SIRIUS!"