The Marauders and the Fetch of Hogwarts

Everyone who'd ever had dreams of being a Quidditch player was out on the field the Saturday following the boggart incident. Remus really had no interest in playing Quidditch, being more the spectator type. Peter was of like mind, but James and Sirius had badgered them both into trying out. James couldn't conceive of anyone not wanting to play Quidditch and Sirius couldn't understand why Remus wouldn't want to show off the new brooms that Mr. Lupin had bought them.

There were three positions open: both Beaters and one Chaser. Because it seemed the easiest, Remus tried out for Beater. He figured with his slightly stronger than normal strength, it wouldn't be so bad. It turned out that while he could give the bludgers good enough swats to send them away, he couldn't aim them at a target, such as an opposing team member. He took not being chosen in stride, despite Sirius and James' misguided attempts to cheer him up. They undoubtedly thought he'd be monumentally depressed at not making the team. Remus didn't have the heart to tell them otherwise.

Peter wasn't good enough for Chaser, as he couldn't maneuver well enough on the broom. The roly-poly Gryffindor boy just wasn't the athletic type and he knew it. Remus was surprised to discover that Sirius didn't make the team either. He too had tried out for Beater and Chaser but his build was too heavy on the broom for the speed a Chaser needed and his attempts to hit the bludger were quite miserable. The bludger didn't get far enough out of range to not target him, so Sirius was grounded and unhappy.

James, however, was another matter all together. He flew superbly, was light, quick, and could maneuver around anything and everyone in his path. His broom wasn't the almost top-of-the-line brand that Sirius and Remus' were, but it was apparent it didn't matter. If it was a broom, James Potter could make it turn on a sickle and leave change.

By the time James had landed the accumulated audience of disappointed people trying out were roaring their approval of his skill. "Hey, Potter!" shouted Marky Perkins. He was striding toward James, his Headboy badge gleaming in the sunshine on the red and gold Quidditch uniform. "How would you like the position of Chaser?" The rest of the Quidditch team was nodding approvingly at their leader's question.

James beamed. "I'll help smear Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin all over the field!" he assured Perkins and the assembled students.

Perkins nodded. "You're in!"

James whooped and made a leap toward Remus, Peter and Sirius. They caught him and Sirius started to toss him around. The four of them laughed jubilantly and then settled down to watch the rest of the tryouts. Merlin Baldur, a third year, and Stephanie Kraft, a fourth year who'd been the reserve Keeper the year before, got the Beater positions. With the team all settled, those who didn't make it quit the field and allowed the new team to have their first meeting to make "secret plans".

Lounging by the lake, watching approaching storm clouds, Remus, Sirius and Peter discussed the tryouts and their own performances.

"I could have done it. I'm just not used to playing Beater is all," Sirius was grousing. Peter and Remus made commiserating noises.

"Well, now you can just heckle the other teams from afar instead of to their faces, Sirius," sneered a voice from behind them.

"Ah Snape, can't you ever do something that doesn't include pestering us?" Sirius retorted, not even bothering to look up at Snape.

Remus did, however, and noticed the huge armload of books. "Swamped with detention homework already?" Remus asked with a mild tone.

Snape merely grinned nastily. "No, just looking for more interesting ways to torture stupid Gryffindors. I thought maybe you three would like to be the first test subjects?"

"No." Peter gave Snape a mock-thoughtful look. "No, not today, Snape, but thanks for the offer. We have more important matters to attend to than boost your rather sickly ego."

Snape sneered at them before slouching off to a nearby tree, close enough to listen in on their conversation but far enough away that he wouldn't be bothered by them unless they wanted to bother him. They didn't.

"Hey mates!" called James ten minutes later, still clad in Quidditch gear. "Time for lunch!" The three of them scrambled to their feet and ran over to James, congratulating him again on his good fortune. Remus noticed that Snape was about ten paces behind them.

"Made the team, eh, Potter? I didn't realize that the Gryffindor team was on the lookout for goal posts." James turned, whipping out his wand in a hurry, only to find himself wand tip to nose with Snape's wand. "I wouldn't if I were you, Potter."

"Had a wand drawn on the enemy's back," snorted Sirius, clutching his own wand angrily but unwilling to use it for fear of James getting hit with a curse. "Typical cowardly Slytherin."

"You'd know all about cowardly, Sirius," drawled Regulus from behind Sirius. Remus turned and stepped around Sirius until they were back to back. Peter mimicked the maneuver and moved to face Regulus and Walden MacNair with Remus, his back to James'. "It wasn't very fair to have cursed me last summer with that deafening spell when I wasn't looking."

"I did it when our dear 'mater et pater' weren't looking, you berk," snarled Sirius, not bothering to look at his brother, still concentrating on Snape. "It's not my fault you've got the awareness factor of a worm."

Remus saw Regulus raise his wand to point at his older brother's back and looked the younger boy in the eye. "You won't get to him before I get to you," he promised solemnly. The air was still, anger shimmering like heat waves. None of the Gryffindors or Slytherins were aware they'd accumulated an audience of both adults and students alike. No one breathed. No one said a word.

Finally Snape's wand lowered, a sneer still curling his upper lip. "If it's time for lunch, then you'd better get moving. Don't let us keep the hungry lions from eating their fill." He stepped around their little knot and joined the other Slytherins as they glided back into the castle.

"I'd have interrupted, but -" Hagrid's voice startled the four boys and they turned as one to the giant groundskeeper staring at them. Hagrid gave them a toothy grin that gleamed white through his heavy beard. "But that had to be the best standoff I'd ever seen."

Sirius executed a perfect bow. "Thank you, Hagrid. We always try to live up to the fine Gryffindor reputation."

"Well, I assure you that this Gryffindor was not as impressed as Hagrid!"

Remus glanced up and audibly groaned. Professor McGonagall was hanging out of a second story window, glaring down at them. Right next to her was the Slytherin Head of House, Professor Slughorn, in the act of pulling his head back inside. Undoubtedly he was heading to waylay his own students. As the school's Potions Master, he was undoubtedly a clever taskmaster with his house but Remus knew no sympathy for the Slytherins. They started it and besides he needed more sympathy for his friends and himself at this rate.

McGonagall's stern voice drifted down to them again. "Get into the main foyer and stay there. I'll be down in a moment to have a talk with you boys."

"Oh man!" groaned Sirius when McGonagall's head disappeared as well. "And we didn't do anything this time except stand up for ourselves!"

"No, but we were thinking about a fight and that's all that matters," Peter said morosely. James and Remus just grunted and followed Sirius and Peter into the main foyer. There the three Slytherins had already been tracked down by Professor Slughorn and were receiving a lecture that should have made their ears bleed. Instead the three Slytherin boys were looking decidedly sullen and slightly mutinous.

"- most disgraceful conduct I've ever seen from a Slytherin and that's saying something! Pulling a wand on an unwary opponent! It's humiliating that you come from Slytherin! The three of you will be meeting me for detention for the next three days and we'll see if I can't teach you proper manners and some decent behavior through some nice manual labor."

Sullen murmurs of "yes, Professor" emerged from the small knot of Slytherin students. "If I see you three out of the common room for the rest of the day, barring meals, I'll add two more days to your sentence." There was silence. "Well? Get moving!" The Slytherins scurried off without a backward glance, Professor Slughorn hot on their heels to make sure they did as they were told.

The smirks on James and Sirius' faces were immediately wiped off when Professor McGonagall swept into the foyer, followed by Professor Dumbledore. Remus' stomach dropped. The last person he wanted to disappoint was Dumbledore.

Professor McGonagall came to a screeching halt in front of them and peered around. "Is he gone?" she asked sotto voce. The boys nodded dejectedly. She traded glances with Dumbledore. "You three," she pointed at James, Sirius and Peter, "will be spending the next three nights with me learning not to rise to poorly cast out bait, to use a fishing metaphor. Mr. Lupin will spend time with the Headmaster. Starting Monday night." She looked around again. "Five points each to Gryffindor."

Both professors swept out of the foyer after winking conspiratorially with the four gaping Gryffindors.