James Potter
Friday, 6th October 1972.
Hogwarts
James and Peter won the bet against Remus and Sirius since they finished their research before the two got back from Hogsmeade. Remus did complain a fair bit how the competition was rigged since James and Peter had the invisibility cloak and the possibility to finish whenever they wanted, but James managed to stop his complaining seeing as the rules were already set when Sirius excepted the bet.
After that, Remus didn't mention the competition anymore, but James did see him giving Sirius a nasty glare which Sirius returned as they handed over ten chocolate frogs to him and Peter.
"How are you planning for us to get in? There are no students around at three in the freaking morning except us.", Remus whispered to James and Peter, but James was the first one to respond, "Do you think we won that bet for nothing? We were researching how to actually get in and everything else."
At the mention of the time, Peter gave him and Sirius a nervous glace, "Won't you two be tired tomorrow? We need you on your best game for Gryffindor to win."
"It'll be fine, Pete. Don't worry. We didn't skip Herbology and History of Magic for nothing. We took a long nap.", Sirius smirked at James while the two bumped their fists.
Before they knew it, the Marauders were in front of a big, stone wall. James didn't take the cloak off of them just in case they ran into someone once inside. They all got near the wall, then James leaned in and whispered, "twenty-eight"
Like on command, the wall started to slide to the side, revealing a dark and gloomy passage. James gave Remus an arrogant smirk which earned him an eye roll from the boy before the four of them went inside.
The Slytherin common room looked quite depressing to James. It was dark and very poorly lit. The lack of windows didn't help the matter either. Everything looked expensive, but in his eyes, it wasn't a nice expensive like he was used to. It was my rich grandad died and left me some couches type of expensive. Needless to say, James hated it and from the look on his friends' faces, they didn't have any better thoughts about the Slytherin common room either.
"Okay, what now?", Sirius asked excitedly once they took the cloak off since there was nobody around.
"Now the fun begins.", James withdrew four Imperishable Infuriated Red Color tubes from his pockets and handed each Marauder one of them, "The boys' dormitories are there.", he pointed to a spiral staircase, "We'll go in twos. Since Pete and I already know where everything is, Remus will go with Pete and I with you.", he said to Sirius. Then he gave Remus one tube of Magical Remover while keeping one to himself.
They all grinned at each other and the mission could finally start.
Sirius insisted on him and James starting from first years and Remus and Pete from seventh years. This way, they could meet in the middle and leave the Slytherin's nest.
James tried opening the door and, once he realized that they were locked, he withdrew his wand and whispered, "Alohomora", the door immediately creaked open and he gave Sirius a smug smirk, "Armatures."
The two of them got inside and carefully closed the door behind. The room was silent, only his steps could be heard and James regrated not listening to Sirius and taking his shoes off. Like the boy read his mind, he gave James an I told you so look to which James just silently huffed before retreating to the bathroom. Once the two were inside, he neared the shower.
James got in and carefully started unscrewing the circular showerhead while Sirius stood near the door and listened for any unwanted movement. The head came off easily with a slight squeak, but from Sirius' expression, there was no stirring from the room.
The Imperishable Infuriated Red Color was back in James' hand. He opened it and drenched the inside of the shower head with bright red color. Once the showerhead was full, he gestured to Sirius to come and cast the spell.
It all sounded quite easy, but the Marauders spent most of their time in the last week just researching this specific spell. Since they decided to fill the showerheads with color, as soon as one of the Slytherins took a shower, others would notice the red paint and figure everything out. Because of that, the four boys found and learned the unnoticed spell. The spell which made anything other than humas impossible to notice until the counter spell was casted.
It was a pretty difficult spell to learn even for James. Peter struggled the most since the wand movement was really strange. They had to twist their wrist in very unnatural way, but, thanks to Remus and his charms talents, they all managed to perfect it.
Sirius came closer, pointed his wand to the inside of the showerhead and whispered, "Praetermissus", he almost poked James' eye out because of the wand movement, but James didn't mind since he saw the bright red color starting to fade. In the end, it looked like a standard showerhead to him. With another squeak, he screwed it back on.
He then withdrew the Magical Remover and drenched his hands in it. It didn't even make a dent in the remover as every red splotch disappeared from James' hands. After another exchange of smug smiles, James was the first one to carefully leave the bathroom. He reached the dorm door, but then he noticed how Sirius wasn't behind him. When he turned, he saw Sirius crouched next to one of the beds, writing some stupid note, "Sirius!", James hissed.
The curly haired boy immediately got to his feet, but James did see him leave something very similar to a tube next to the note, "What was that about?", he questioned as the two left the dorm.
Sirius just shrugged nonchalantly, "Just wanted to tell Regulus how much I love him."
James smiled at this, knowing full well what Sirius was actually doing, but he decided to keep his suspicions to himself until they go back to their dorm. He wanted to make sure that he was correct.
The two continued this pattern, each time switching the roles of the person who put the paint into the showerhead and the one who casted the spell. Way sooner than expected, they were finished and waiting for Remus and Peter in the middle of the Slytherin's spiral staircase.
"Stage one completed.", Sirius whispered proudly to Peter and Remus as the two came into view from the top of the staircase, but then James noticed how Remus and Peter were actually running.
Remus swooped pass them, taking both of their wrists, "Stage two completed.", he whisper-yelled in a hurry and pulled James and Sirius' arms with such force that the two boys stumbled down the stairs.
Peter was right behind them and, as soon as they emerged from the narrow staircase, he bolted towards the common room entrance and whispered the password in an attempt to speed up the process of them leaving.
Unfortunately, Sirius did take his shoes off because he didn't want to make any sounds, but this resulted in him falling onto the slippery floor as soon as Remus dragged him and James over the last step and into the common room.
James didn't know what to do since voices could already be heard from the top of the staircase, so he pulled his hand out of Remus' grasp and took Sirius' other wrist. The two dragged the curly haired boy as quickly as they could towards the exit while Peter hissed at them to hurry up since the stone wall started to close. James really wanted to tell Sirius I told YOU so since he insisted that not wearing shoes was stupid, but given their current situation, it really wasn't the best timing.
As soon as they were out, Remus lifted Sirius back up and James threw the cloak over the four of them, "What happened—", he and Sirius whispered together, but they were both shushed by Remus' hand on Sirius' mouth and Peter's on James'.
James was thankful for this act since, seconds later, they could hear voices behind the big, stone wall. Then the wall slid open once more and three seventh year Slytherins walked out of the common room.
"Are you sure that you heard someone?", one of them asked while inching dangerously close to invisible Marauders.
The second one just huffed, "Of course I did! I'm not deaf like the rest of you.", he said sounding really annoyed.
"It must have been some girl trying to sneak back to her room after having fun.", the third one wiggled his eyebrows, but the second one still didn't look convinced.
"Come on, Selwyn. We have a game to win tomorrow. We need sleep.", the first one stated. That seemed to work, so the three Slytherins went back to their common room not knowing that one of them was inches away from Remus' nose.
The Marauders exhaled sharply at this almost discovery.
"I told you so.", James whisper-yelled at Sirius while flipping him on the head. Still, they were quite satisfied with their mission on the way back to the Gryffindor common room.
Once they stepped back into their dorm, everyone went straight to sleep. Except James. He took one look at Sirius' trunk, before smiling knowingly to himself. All that was left from the trip to Hogsmeade was one bottle of Imperishable Infuriated Red Color.
* * *
Saturday, 7th October 1972.
Hogwarts
Tomorrow morning, James and Sirius threw on their quidditch robes which now had Potter with number 16 and Black with number 4 printed in gold letters on their backs. The sleeves were also decorated with gold numbers. Needless to say, the gloves James' dad got them that summer matched the gear perfectly.
The Marauders made their way to the Great Hall while trying not to bring any attention to themselves, but they just couldn't keep the straight face, no matter how much they tried.
The four of them took their usual seats and waited while assembling breakfast. Everything started pretty normally. The Ravenclaw students were already there when they arrived. Then some Hufflepuffs and Slytherins took seats in the Great Hall as well. Other Gryffindors joined them not long after, but the Marauders were waiting for what they called the morning peak.
Just when James and Sirius were getting bored and started the game of who can balance more waffles on top of one another vertically, Remus tapped his spoon three times at the edge of his porridge bowl, giving the rest of them the signal they were waiting for. The Great Hall was full.
James, Sirius, Peter and Remus all withdrew their wands under the table and muttered, "Animadvertit", thankfully, the counter spell had way easier wand movements than the actual spell, so their hands being under the table didn't really bother them.
Instantly, all Slytherin boys started getting red splotches all over their skin, their hair was full on bright red. Even Snape's hair was the color of the hoodie James had gifted Sirius last Christmas, which really shocked James since he suspected that the greasy boy didn't shower very often. The Hall bursted into laughter immediately which finally gave the Marauders a chance to laugh openly.
The desperate yelps were heard from the Slytherins and soon James saw the seventh year from the night before, Selwyn. Tall boy stomped furiously towards the exit of the Hall, but before he left, Selwyn turned to Anthony, their quidditch captain, and pointed an accusing finger at him, "You're done Patil! I am going to hang your remains in the Slytherin common room once the game is over!", he roared over the yelps from his fellow housemates.
James was already prepared to stand up and confess, he couldn't let Anthony take the blame. It seemed as though Anthony already knew that it was them who caused the ruckus since he gave James a warning look to stay put before he turned back to Selwyn with a sly smile, "We'll see who will hang whose remains, Selwyn. I don't really like the green thing you got going on. Guess I was lucky somebody took care of that for me.", he gestured to Selwyn's red skin and bright hair.
The Slytherin seemed so furious that he couldn't even speak, so he just stomped out of the Hall. The Marauders watched Anthony in slight fear, waiting to be punished since the prefect somehow always knew that they were the ones to blame, but surprisingly, Anthony gave all of them a big thumbs up before returning to his breakfast.
The Marauders exchanged proud grins before continuing to eat as well. James noticed how Sirius wasn't grabbing his spoon again. The boy had his hands propped with elbows on the table and in front of his face. Just as he was about to tell Sirius how important it is to eat before the game, James noticed Sirius giving a meaningful smile to someone at the Slytherin table while playing with his rings. He followed his gaze and saw the only two Slytherin boys who weren't covered in red.
Regulus Black was looking back at his big brother trying not to smile, but miserably failing while his blonde friend looked too occupied with eating to notice anything.
James removed his gaze, not wanting to interrupt this private moment between the two and, with the satisfied smile, he returned to his eggs.
* * *
The Gryffindor team swopped onto the Quidditch Pitch. Loud cheers could be heard from all around James and, in that moment, he felt like he was exactly where he belonged. There was just something about the rush he was getting while looking at all those faces cheering for him and his team.
After one lap, Anthony started descending which was a sign for the rest of the team to follow suit. James saw Sirius' amazed expression and was sure that he looked just as entranced as the curly haired boy. Suddenly, Sirius got ahold of his arm and shook it vigorously, "James! Look!", he pointed to the Gryffindor stands.
James followed Sirius' gaze and he was left speechless. Remus and Peter were cheering so loudly that he could practically hear them. The two boys were carrying what looked like a bed sheet on which they wrote Potter & Black. Around the two, James could see all of their Gryffindor classmates yelling his and Sirius' name. The sight was truly magnificent.
His attention was snapped back to the pitch once the Slytherin team swopped out of the changing rooms and did their lap around the pitch. James and Sirius couldn't contain their laughter seeing as green robes were accompanied by bright, red hair. At least they got the paint off of their skin, James thought.
The Slytherins descended as well and Selwyn, apparently their captain, gave James and Sirius a nasty look, but the two just pointed to their hair in a mocking manner. Needless to say, he looked furious to James, but before he could mock the boy even more, Madam Hooch joined them.
"I want a fair game! Captains, please shake hands!", she yelled at them and Anthony and Selwyn complied. James saw a vein pop on Selwyn's forehead as he tried to squeeze Anthony's hand as much as possible, but Gryffindor captain looked quite unbothered.
They all flew into positions, Sirius taking the right wing and James taking the middle. He saw Madam Hooch releasing the Snitch and Bludgers, but James' attention was fixated on the Quaffle in her hands. Then she blew her whistle and threw the Quaffle in the air.
James bolted towards it and caught it just in front of a Slytherin Chaser. He passed it quickly to Anthony seeing as their captain had a clear path to the hoops. James saw from the corner of his eye a Bludger coming straight towards Anthony, but he didn't even have to say anything seeing as Sirius easily took care of it. Sirius hit the Bludger and it flew directly into the Slytherin Chaser in front of James.
This gave James a clear path to the hoops as well so he continued to assist Anthony. The two threw the Quaffle back and forth until they were directly in front of the hoops. Anthony passed the ball to James just in time since the Slytherin Chaser blocked his path.
The Quaffle was now in James' hands, but as he lifted his hand to score, there was a Bludger coming straight towards him. He quickly saved the Quaffle by throwing it to Johnson, the third Gryffindor Chaser, and prepared for the impact. Thankfully, Sirius reacted just in time and threw the second Bludger, blocking the first one right in front of James.
There wasn't any time to thank his friend because the Quaffle ended up in James' hands again since Johnson got blocked. This time, James did manage to throw the Quaffle with all his strength towards the hoops. The Slytherin keeper tried stopping it with his hands, but James threw it with such force that the Quaffle went straight through Slytherin's outstretched hands, brushing all of his fingertips.
The stands erupted into cheers and yells of James name. It felt magical being the one to score the first goal of the season.
The game continued for another half an hour. James, Anthony and Johnson continued to score while Frank continued to keep the Slytherin points at only twenty. Sirius and Leta really worked great together, they were in sync.
James saw a slight golden flick followed closely by both Seekers. It seemed as though Sirius caught on what was happening as well seeing as in no time a Bludger flew straight towards the Slytherin Seeker, knocking him off his broom.
Ashley O'Down's hand wrapped around the golden ball and everybody erupted into cheers. Gryffindor had won the first match of the season. James flew to the ground and immediately threw his arms around Sirius. The two started jumping up and down and yelling excitedly, "We won! We won!", until they were tackled by the rest of their team.
James felt such joy that it was impossible to describe it. He managed to do everything he wanted! He scored the first point and won the first match! Sirius seemed just as eager to have won. The boy kept shaking James' shoulders and smiling so much that James thought how both of them would get wrinkles at such young age.
All the hard work has paid off, he thought proudly to himself. James always believed how everything was possible if you put enough effort and thought into it and this win just proved that to him. They trained relentlessly all summer and were now consuming the fruits of their labor.
Remus and Peter ran towards James and Sirius so there just had to be another yelling and jumping competition between them. Anthony also congratulated the two of them on greatly played first game to which Sirius and James beamed. Anthony was really good at Quidditch so getting compliments from someone like him meant a great deal to two boys.
As the Gryffindor team started to move their celebration towards the changing rooms, James saw Snape talking to Selwyn. They were whispering while throwing side glances towards him and Sirius, but right now James Potter didn't care one bit about Snape or any other Slytherin for that matter. All he cared about was celebrating his first ever quidditch win with his friends.