Chapter Thirteen
"You've got to be fucking kidding me."
"Language!" Lily chided Sirius as he set down his goblet loudly on the table, causing the plates nearby to clatter. His expression was incredulous as he stared across the table at Brooklyn, who'd just stopped at the Gryffindor table where the marauders were seated to inform them that the Quidditch practice that morning would not be cancelled.
"Believe me, I had the same reaction," Brooklym muttered, hiking her bag higher up her shoulder. "Anyways, be there or get kicked off the team."
Peter was starting to look relieved that he wasn't on the team, while Remus sighed in defeat. "Alright. Thanks."
Sirius, on the other hand, still looked outraged. "But—"
"Arthur's words, not mine," she cut him off, shaking her head helplessly.
Opposite her, James shrugged nonchalantly, spooning some cereal into his mouth. "If I were captain, I'd have done the same thing."
They all stared at him.
"What?" He asked, raising his eyebrows questioningly. "Is there something on my face?"
"Are you mental?" Sirius burst out, pointing up towards the bewitched ceiling, which displayed exactly what the sky outside looked like at that exact moment. It was currently swirling in a dark, ashy grey colour, with thick, almost opaque clouds floating about. Thunder rolled and boomed so loud that they could barely hear each other, and every now and then, there was a bright flash of lightning.
"It's raining enough to fill up fifty Black Lakes, plus a hundred bathtubs, and you think it's okay to let us fly out in that?" He spluttered, looking at James as if he'd just grown seven heads.
"Well, yeah." The bespectacled boy frowned, turning to Brooklyn, who was still standing there. "Don't you?"
"Er— no. Sorry, but I'm not completely psycho."
James smirked, folding his arms and leaning back smugly. "Which is exactly why I'm going to be Captain next year, not you, Jones."
She rolled her eyes. "Cocky, much?"
He seemed pleased (albeit a little taken aback) that she was speaking to him now instead of avoiding him, and his smirk widened. "But you love me anyways."
"You wish," she muttered, glancing sharply at Lily, who was trying her best to hide a smile. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we've got to go—"
"Oh, leaving us so soon? But you just got here," James said disappointedly, then pointed down to the empty seat opposite him. "You could at least stay and have some breakfast."
"Er, no thanks, we—"
"—would love to," Lily cut her off abruptly, taking the seat opposite Remus and giving Brooklyn a pointed stare. Brooklyn bit her lip, recalling the conversation she'd had with Lily two nights ago. The redhead had definitely been right about one thing, avoiding James wasn't going to help her figure anything out. So, with a sigh, she reluctantly plopped her things down on the bench and took a seat next her best friend.
"So... How are prefect duties, Brook?" Remus asked casually in an attempt to start conversation, due to the awkward silence that had been occurring.
She shrugged, swallowing a mouthful of toast. "Pretty good, I guess. Keeping him—" she gestured towards James before continuing, "—out of trouble is probably the hardest part."
James scoffed. "Oh come on, Jones. Don't act like you don't enjoy my company."
"I wasn't acting."
"Ouch," Sirius remarked, snickering, as James elbowed him lightly. Brooklyn rolled her eyes at them before her gaze drifted over to Remus and Lily, who were awkwardly not making eye contact with each other. She smiled slightly. Getting them together would be fun.
Just then, Marlene and Alice breezed into the Great Hall, spotting their friends and making a beeline for them.
"Morning, girls," The blonde greeted, her gaze flickering inquiringly to the marauders. Beside her, Alice was also looking quite puzzled. Sirius cleared his throat loudly. "I'm obviously not a girl, McKinnon."
"Are you sure about that?" She retorted, giving him a disdainful look before dropping down on the seat next to Brooklyn, Alice following suit. "Brook, please enlighten me as to why we're fraternising with them."
"You can blame our dear Lily here."
Alice raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Lily? Well, that was unexpected."
Alice did have a point. Normally, the redhead avoided the four boys like the plague.
Lily rolled her eyes. "There's nothing wrong with sitting here, it's our house table, isn't it?"
"Hmm, fair enough," Marlene mused, shrugging before taking a sip of her juice, giving Sirius her frostiest stare over the rim of the cup. He merely smirked in return.
"You know, McKinnon, I read somewhere that blondes are the best kissers," he said casually, and she feigned a look of surprise.
"Really? I didn't know you could read."
"Oh, good," he remarked. "You remembered to take your bitch pills today."
"Well, I'm only a bitch because you're so infuriating—"
"Mar!" Brooklyn chided at the exact same time as James intervened with a loud, "Sirius!" while nudging him in the ribs.
Both grudgingly fell silent, although still glaring at each other. Brooklyn met James' gaze across the table, giving him a small, grateful smile. He smiled back warmly, causing her gaze to flicker back down to her plate, her cheeks tingeing scarlet against her will. This was going to be harder than she thought.
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"Alright, listen up, guys." Arthur cleared his throat, the sound getting lost in the howling wind.
"Sorry, what did you say?" Sirius yelled, pointing to the sky. "It's a little windy."
Arthur grimaced, repeating his earlier sentence with a much louder tone. "We're going to do some warm-up laps, then we're going to practise some new techniques and discuss strategy!" He shouted, tugging his hood up. "Okay?"
The team gave each other blank looks, they'd only heard about half of what he'd said.
"Er— sounds great!" The seeker, Mary Macdonald, gave him a convincing thumbs up. Arthur beamed, sliding his leg over his broom. "Good. Twenty laps, come on. Last one to finish has to pack up the equipment!"
They all shot up into the air.
James, naturally, was the first one to finish, with Brooklyn coming in a close second. He grinned at her as she descended slowly to the ground, landing next to him. "Took you long enough, Jones," he said teasingly.
"Sorry, not all of us can fly through this disastrous weather," she retorted, wiping a trickle of water off her cheek. Her hair was already dripping wet, even under the hood of her plastic raincoat, and he longed to brush back the stray strands of hair dangling in her face.
They stood side by side, watching as the others finished. When they were all done, Arthur clasped his hands together loudly. The wind seemed to have died down slightly, so he only had to yell just a little bit.
"So here's the plan!" He started to assign them their tasks one by one, staring with the Beaters, explaining what they had to do, before moving on to Mary. Finally, he turned to Brooklyn, James and Frank, tossing them a Quaffle. Frank caught it, holding it under one arm.
"Alright, Chasers! Do you remember that new passing technique I showed you at our last practice? Good. Practice that, and when you think you've mastered it, come see me and we'll practice your scoring."
He turned to the rest of the team. "When you're all done, we'll meet up inside to discuss strategies. Any questions?"
James raised his hand slowly, smirking. "I've got one."
"Go ahead."
"How is it possible that Jones still manages to look absolutely gorgeous in all this rain?"
Brooklyn blinked, startled, while the rest of the team aww-ed. Blushing, she shook her head. "Oh shut up, Potter."
Arthur chuckled, looking quite amused. "Save the flirting for after practice, James."
"Aye aye, Captain."