Wild Heart¹ ★ [Sirius Black]

Chapter 23

Quidditch tryouts had been the talk of Gryffindor for two weeks, and after all of the speculation, and anxiety from the newbies (which resulted in several second years getting stress acne), the new quidditch team was announced, and as expected, Chloé Laurent, James Potter, and Sirius Black were all on it. 

With them was Jonathan Wood as their captain and final chaser, third year Payton Jones was their new seeker, sixth year Curtis Gudgeon was the second beater, and Archie McVey was still their keeper. It was different from last year with two new members, but the team worked well together, and Chloé found that quidditch tryouts were actually her only non stressful part of the year.

Professor McGonagall had even spent a quarter of their next lesson asking her about their chances for the quidditch cup this year.

They didn't even have a game for another month, but it felt nice to have something exciting to shoot for (literally) besides OWL exams, or dark wizard fighting. 

There was more good news, which was that after the argument at Slughorn's dinner, on top of last year's Christmas party fight Sirius had been officially uninvited from all Slug Club events, which he was ecstatic about.

Chloé was actually surprised he didn't take his newfound freedom and use it to mess up during potions lessons.

When she had brought it up with him, he had only said "I wouldn't mess up your grades just for fun, Chlo. I'm not going to ruin your future over me"

She had blushed furiously, as red as the potion in their cauldron, and could barely look at him again all day without her cheeks turning pink.

To celebrate the new quidditch team, which was honestly just an excuse, the Gryffindors were throwing a party.

It wasn't as big as their normal ones, but the Marauders and their friends were still there of course.

"Beer pong!" Peter had announced within 10 minutes of the party starting.

From the sofas, Lily and Chloé both groaned. Butterbeer was the least fun drink in existence to chug. The two girls had hoped to make a run for it and head out of the common room before being roped into it, like they had done on Alice's birthday, however unfortunately Marlene had learned their tricks, and sprinted to the common room door before they could reach it.

"Nope" she told the approaching pair

Lily scowled. "But I hate this game"

Marlene chuckled, and grabbed them both by the shoulders to direct them to the table set up in the corner by their friends. "Come on"

The pair whined pointlessly until they reached it, and James announced to the group, "Two teams. I will be on one with Lilypad of course" if possible, the redhead's scowl grew even deeper, "and Pads, Alice, and Kendall. On the other will be Chlo, Remus, Marlene, Wormtail, and Dorcas"

"Hang on," said Marlene "What do the winners get?" 

A wicked smirk appeared on his face. "The losing team has to wear Slytherin robes for an entire day on Friday"

There were gasps and whines within the group, but deep down everyone had to admit that it was a pretty good idea.

"Come on then" sighed Alice "Let's get this over with"

The teams were fairly evenly matched by skill at this game, because on one hand Alice and Lily sucked, but on the other so did Peter and Marlene, but with the prospect of Slytherin robes on the line, there was some real pressure on everyone.

The first team to lose a cup was Chloé's, after a well thrown shot by Kendall.

"Drink up, Marls!" she cheered, and Marlene reluctantly downed its contents