𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍.
chapter forty; Eagles On Three
" You two are nothing but trouble. "

  AUTUMN WAS IN full swing and there was a clear divide in the previously jumbled group of friends. Sirius, Madeline, and Remus could be found under a great tree on the Black Lake's shore or laughing wildly at the Ravenclaw table during meals. Peter tended to tag along wherever James went, and when not with his remaining friend, James was with Lily Evans. 

  Madeline hadn't been seen with Bluebelle or Kai since September and hadn't even glanced towards her former female friends from Gryffindor in her seventh year.

  "How's quidditch practice been?" Madeline asked, flipping a page in her marked-up Astronomy book. She was laying on her stomach overtop of Sirius' legs, the boy not minding her ribs poking his kneecaps as he drew shapeless blobs on her back with his finger.

  Students milled around the open courtyard, a few other couples had followed Madeline and Sirius' lead and taken seats on the evergreen grass.

  "Fine," Sirius mumbled, "James hasn't been talking to me much, lots of drills. He's taking captain seriously, though I assumed nothing would change."

  Madeline hummed in acknowledgment-- she'd found herself over the entire situation. At that point in the fall of 1977, Madeline didn't care how James felt about her anymore, she just wished he'd get over himself and put an end to Sirius' self-loathing.

  He was susceptible to guilt, easily drowning in the waters of self-induced inner hate. Madeline kept him afloat, with Remus' help, but Sirius continued to feel as though it was entirely his fault that James had a broom up his ass.

  "What about you?"

  "Alright," Madeline said, holding down the pages of her book as the wind whipped by, "Sarian, the second year, she's a new chaser. Really good, not just for a 12-year-old either, she'd give the Chudley Cannons a run for their money."

  "You're very proud of your team, Mads."

  "Rightfully so," She grinned, craning her neck to see Sirius, "I put effort into them."

  "I know, you get very obsessive about the things you love."

  "I'm not obsessive."

  "Attention to detail?"

  "You're digging yourself into a hole, Sirius Black."

  Sirius leaned down and pressed an eager kiss to Madeline's lip, pulling away to reveal a sheepish smile. Madeline laughed, sitting up and kissing Sirius back with the same amount of urgency.

  "Mr. Black, Ms. Potter!"

  Madeline sprung away from Sirius, her face engulfed in heat as she looked up at McGonagall. The woman raised a brow, watching Sirius fork his fingers through his hair and brush it away.

  "I must ask that you restrain from such. . . public displays of affections," She said uncomfortably, only making Sirius grown an amused smile, "Mr. Black--"

  "Minnie, have you seen Mads?" Sirius asked dramatically, making Madeline bury her face in her hands, "She's bloody gorgeous, can you blame me?"

  "Sirius, shut up," Madeline whispered furiously, tugging on Sirius' sleeve.

  "D'you see this?" Sirius exclaimed, pointing to her hand on his clothing, "How am I supposed to control myself when she's doing mess like this?!"

  "Sirius!"

  "You two are nothing but trouble."

  "I'm taking that as a compliment."

  "I would expect nothing less."

ϟ

  Madeline was nervous for the first game of the year. 

  It was versus Gryffindor, as it had been her very first year playing, and something about having to face-off her brother directly made her pumped up. But it also created a bottomless pit in her stomach, she tried to fill it with food, extra isolated quidditch practice, Remus' motivational speech, and Sirius' gentle reminders that she'd probably grind his team into the ground.

  It remained, but this did not mean she'd let it show.

  "Good luck," James said, shaking his sister's hand on the center of the pitch. 

  It was the first time they'd spoken since the final day of August, but competition seemed easy for them. Talking, emotions, friendships, school, war, it had all clouded their familial bond in recent years. But today? Today it was back to basics.

  "I don't need luck." 

  The corner of James' lips twitched up at Madeline's determination, the girl kicking off the ground and whizzing quickly back to the rings.

  "Well, alright."

  Madeline Potter had never worked so hard in her entire life. She'd trained her team hard, but it seemed for every minute Ravenclaw had practiced, Gryffindor had done an hour. They played rougher than Slytherin, mercilessly checking the players when need be. Madeline kept as many quaffles out of the goals as she could, but it became increasingly more difficult, and before she had the chance to turn it around, Gryffindor caught the snitch and they won.

  It was melancholic as the teams took the ground, roars of pride flooding the Gryffindor team, while Ravenclaw sulked in silence.

  "Hey, uh, come here for a minute," Madeline said loudly, rounding up the blue and bronze team. "We played good today—"

  "They weren't fair."

  "I know," Madeline said to Miles Halter, "But we won't be sore losers and complain about it. We came here to play a clean game and they didn't, but we still played well. Halter, Myers, I like the coordination, you're a machine in the air. Yarin, you've improved since last year, I just need less hesitation, alright? You're the best seeker Ravenclaw's seen, you just have to believe that. And my chasers, stunning work, as always— Sarian, I would've have been able to stay up if a bloke like James hit me as hard as he did you, so good on you."

  "But I lost the quaffle."

  "Staying in the air is more important than the ball," Madeline smiled gently, "I don't want any of you hurting yourselves or breaking rules to win, alright? We got the quidditch cup last year playing by the rules, we'll do that again, okay?"

  A chorus of agreements rung out.

  "Alright, Eagles on three," Madeline grinned, throwing her arm out to start a break, "One, two, three!"

  "Eagles!"

  The pitch was then a crowd of students and professors dispersing, Madeline hanging back as her team made their way to the locker rooms. Kai, too, hung back, patting Madeline's shoulder in gratitude.

  "Only you can make a bunch of Ravenclaws feel good about losing."

  "Trust me, I don't feel good about losing," Madeline sighed, wrapping her arm around Kai's middle, "But now we know this season is cutthroat. And we'll be ready next time."

  "This is why you're the captain," Kai said with a smile, ruffling Madeline's hair before departing.

  Madeline let out a noise of annoyance, yanking her already knotted hair back into a ponytail. Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one who'd decided to stay back, and as she fought her locks into the hair elastic she caught James Potter scanning the area, before landing on her.

  He was gross, hair wet from sweat and lips parted as he breathed heavily. Madeline let her hands fall dead weight as her hair was secured, neither daring to break the eye contact.

  Until Madeline raised a hand and turned away, a smile fighting its way onto her face as she saw Sirius waiting for her, still in his uniform fiddling with his beater's bat.

  And James frowned to himself when he realized how far gone he really was. Madeline Potter was done with competition, no fits after losing quidditch or the staring contest, she had bigger things to worry about. And suddenly, James felt foolish for holding his grudge— it was principle now, they had to apologize first. For keeping him in the dark, sneaking around, lying.

  But he was doubting anyone would feel bad for the boy who kept on fighting when his opponent had so long ago waved the white flag.

( AUTHOR'S NOTE. )
okay look I just outlined
the rest of the story and 
there's 10 more chapters.
Would you guys want a 
sequel surrounding Maddie and
Sirius' kid? It would have to
be ( mostly) canon because I prefer that,
which means James and Reggie
wouldn't be around and
Sirius would go to Azkaban.
What do we think?