A/N: Moody tests the young Aurors yet again.

Submission for:

Hogwarts Writing Club Competition: Round 5 - flag

The Treasure Hunt - The map tells you to chose one of the four ways in front of you, chose from north, south, east and west. - West

James took a deep breath as he looked down at his watch, the face barely visible in the dim light slipping through the leaves above them. Just two minutes left before the horn sounded.

He looked around at the dense trees about their position. "Okay, you run out first and-"

"Why do I have to go first? You go first!"

James sighed. Leave it to Sirius to complain at a moment like this. "You had no problem with this plan a few minutes ago."

The dark-haired man crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, now I do. I always go out first. You do it this time."

"Fine, I'll run out first," James relented. "Do you remember the layout of the map Moody showed us?"

Sirius grinned. "Of course I do. I actually studied last night."

James shook his head. "Well forget that. You know Moody, probably gave us a fake map anyway. We have to just go with our gut."

Sirius frowned, muttering about what an old fart Moody was before he was interrupted by a loud noise.

"It's time," James whispered before he pointed his wand at his body to conceal himself, Sirius following afterwards.

They ran as quickly as they could, keeping their steps light to minimize the noise of the leaves crunching underfoot.

"James," Sirius whispered. "Where- OW!"

James shoved back on the invisible weight behind him. "Be quiet! They'll hear us!"

Sirius rubbed his nose before he said, "I just wanted to know if you had any idea where we're going."

James pulled out his wand and placed flat in his palm. "Point me, enemy flag."

The two young men watched the wand spin seemingly in mid-air before it pointed towards the west. "That way," James said.

They were about to disembark when a red spell shot in their direction. "They're over here under a Disillusionment Charm!" someone shouted before they heard a large thump hit the ground.

"Run!" Sirius shouted, before he scampered off in the direction, with James following sound of his friend's feet.

More spells were fired in their direction, a few them missing their bodies by mere centimetres and hitting the trees around them. Large pieces of splintered wood and dislodged leaves hindered their path but they managed to avoid them before they came to a large clearing.

"Is this it?" Sirius asked as he looked about, his wand held out at the ready to protect the two of them. The other team were just a few metres behind.

"I think so," James said. There was a slight tingling feeling rushing over their skin. "And not a moment too soon. The Charm has worn off," he added.

"Look there!" Sirius said, pointed towards a red handkerchief tied to a tall tree. "The flag!"

They both rushed forward to tug it down when the ground fell from under them. They screamed before they hit the bottom of a small dark hole, Sirius landing on top of James.

Laughing could be heard before the other team's smiling faces appeared around the edge of the hole, accompanied by the gnarled visage of their mentor, Moody.

"Tsk, tsk, boys," the old wizard said. "And you almost had it too." He summoned the red handkerchief from the tree before dropping down over Sirius' face. "Better luck next time."