what we shared

chapter 3

Monday 6th of September

There was a loud banging on the girls dorm door, but this time Laurie was awake, and even fully dressed. She'd been trying to adjust to early mornings at Hogwarts.
"Who the bloody hell is that?" Aquila groaned from her bed.
"Psst, Laurie, are you in there?" James hissed from the other side of the door.
"Oh for Merlin's sake." Aquila grabbed her pillow, covering her face with it. "He better get quidditch captain at this rate."
Laurie stifled a laugh as she made her way over to the door.
"You coming Lily?"
"Apart from that one lesson with Madam Hooch, I've never so much as been on a broom." Her face paled at that, clearly not a fond memory. "But I'll come and watch."
Laurie opened the door, coming face to face with James, who's fist was raised, ready to knock again. Next to him were Sirius and Remus.
"No peter?"
"Tosser's still in bed. Come on, I want to try and get in a practice lap."
"Wish you could've brought him to his senses Laurie, he was practically talking in his sleep, quaffle this, golden snitch that." Sirius said, playfully.
"Was not." James replied, with indignation.

Down on the quidditch pitch, there were a fair few Gryffindors, mostly first years, but some older students.
Remus stifled a yawn. On the way down he'd confided in Laurie, saying that he had only agreed to get James off his back, but had no intention of actually being on the team. 'Completely understandable.' She had replied with a smile.
"I'd like to thank everyone for coming down this morning! I love the enthusiasm, especially seeing such eager first years, it's not every year you're given a chance but in June we lost a chunk of the team and we want to rebuild from the roots, one of you lot will be captain one day, so make it count. Alright, everyone on your brooms, first I want to see a few laps, gotta make sure you're all competent first." The team captain and keeper, a curly blonde haired boy called out. Behind him there were the already existing team members. A dark haired girl, one of the beaters; a shorter boy with braces and hair as red as Lily's, one of the chasers; And the second year sandy haired boy Laurie had sat with at the sorting ceremony. He gave her a grin.
James, and Sirius set off, evenly matched.
"Guess this is it. Lily if I don't make it, tell my family I love them." Remus gave a salute and left the ground, somewhat shakily. and Laurie followed, zooming past him, catching up to the others. If James hadn't been so insistent on hours of playing quidditch in his garden since they were younger then Laurie was certain she wouldn't even have been able to leave the ground.
"We've got this in the bag." Sirius smiled that self assured smile, looking down at the other kids trying out, some of which were still planted firmly on the grass.
"I'm going to have to agree with that statement, Sirius my old chap." James had a wide smile on his face, but still concentrating forward, they were on their second lap now.
"Don't be too sure, they haven't even brought out the quaffles and bludgers yet." As she said this James just shook his head. When he had his heart set on something, he got it.

James of course had been right, and at the end of tryouts the three of them-along with some other students from varying years- had been welcomed to the team with handshakes from the older students. With James and Laurie as unofficial chaser's and Sirius as beater.
"First years you'll be subs for now, but trainings are still a must..." James was nodding along intently
"Congratulations!" Lily jumped up from where she'd been sitting and wrapped her arms around Laurie.
James did the same. "What did I tell you!" Laurie returned both hugs, laughing.
"Nice one." Remus joined the group, patting James and Sirius on the shoulder, slightly out of breath. "But I'm starved. Breakfast?"

* * * * *

Sunday 10th of October

Weeks passed, with classes, homework, and early morning quidditch practices or simple flying sessions sanctioned by James, even when the older teammates were no doubt still asleep. Laurie learned to get up even earlier, meeting the boys in the common room so as not to wake her dorm mates.
"We ought to plan a proper prank." Sirius said one morning as they made their way down to the pitch, his breath causing curls of fog in the crisp air.
"What do you have in mind? Do me and Remus need to hide out for a while?" James joked.
"The Slytherin's," this earned him a look from both Laurie and James, who stopped in their tracks, but Sirius kept walking.
"What about the Slytherin's?" Laurie asked, though she had a pretty good idea.
"They've been giving me grief around school, 'specially in potions." Laurie and James had to jog to catch up to him, James stepped in front of Sirius stopping him in his tracks,
"Why didn't you say something-" He began but was cut off.
"I've learnt to not let it get to me, the letters from my parents have given me thicker skin. But my cousins, Narcissa and Bella," Laurie felt a twist in her stomach. She'd heard stories about the boys older cousins, none of them good. "They must be telling their henchmen all about it, henchman in our year level, because I keep getting notes, or snide remarks calling me a blood traitor." His lips curled as he said it, and Laurie shot James a look. One he returned.
"That's a load of bollocks." James spoke up.
"I know. It doesn't hurt my feelings, but I just want to show them that they're not as tough as they think. That I'm not going to let them get to me." His tone changed at that, in a way Laurie had never heard him talk. Sirius was always so confident, never passing up the opportunity for a smirk or witty remark. "You know? I'm proud of my house, proud of my marks. I got onto the quidditch team for crying out loud and I haven't heard so much as a 'we're proud of you' from my parents."
Laurie hated seeing him like this, seeing 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 like this. And the cogs in her brain started turning.
"I think I have an idea. I'll get Lily's help too." She squeezed Sirius's arm. "Come on, I'll race you both to the goals."