A/N: Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, Round 6

Prompt: Slice of Life (genre)

Team: The Ballycastle Bats

Position: Seeker

Maybe Now (I Have A Chance)

James ran one hand through his unruly hair, not really paying attention to the fact that his attempt at combing it did nothing more than to mess it up just a little bit more, causing chunks of it to fall right into his eyes. He brushed it away impatiently again, muttering something quite unintelligible as he peered with deep concentration into the complicated schedule in front of him and wondered why he'd ended up booking the Quidditch pitch at all the wrong times; the unholy hour early in the morning when his saner opponents would be tucked into bed, dreaming sweet things; the hour just before dinner when half his team would be as famished as a pack of wolves who'd been starved for a day (and just about as focused) and the gloomy afternoon hour, the only hour where students of all years were free in between classes. He sighed again, feeling like an old woman as he anticipated the angry response of his team members and shuddered slightly. Well, I'm captain, he told himself by way of consolation. They're just going to have to get their arses down to practice.

Committing his team's practice schedule to memory and erasing the contents of the board with a careless flick of the wand, James proceeded to dump the now blank board under his bed and made a move towards the common room.

Looking out the window, he realised that the evening was dying as the sun, gathered in her fiery robes of golden and crimson prepared for her daily descent down the sky and realised what had been amiss with his day. Sirius. As the opening match of the season between Gryffindor and this year's particularly competitive Ravenclaw team approached, all James could do was eat, breathe and live Quidditch, and James realised that he'd hardly made the time two exchange two words with his best friend. That thought led him to recalling Moony, who'd been ill with a violent stomach bug after ingesting on some dying, disease-ridden mice the previous full-moon night, which had been three nights away.

Right. Time to fix that.

He walked out of the sixth year boys' dorms into the Gryffindor common room only to find Sirius, who nearly pounced on him with a growl that made James briefly appreciate his choice for an animagus once more. He gave Sirius a friendly slap on the back as his features settled into an easy grin and the duo settled into the couches, savouring the rare emptiness of the common room.

'Sirius, how are you?'

'James. Is that really how you begin a conversation with your best mate these days? I see Quidditch has robbed you of your conversational skills, as well.' Sirius smirked broadly at James.

'Oh, come off it Black. For the strangest of reasons, I've gone and bloody chosen the worst possible slots for team practice and am in dire need of a really winning argument to convince them to not feed my severed head to a dragon.'

'Ever the master exaggerator. Don't worry, Jamesie; if you find yourself a victim of death threats, you know who to go to.' He cracked his knuckles with a mock-menacing expression and James laughed.

'If that's how you plan on frightening away my team, work harder on looking slightly more threatening,' James grinned. 'Now come on. There's a certain lovely damsel that I haven't had the fortune to set my eyes upon the entire week – you wouldn't know what she's been up to, would you?' The expression on James' face was entirely too innocent and Sirius looked at his best friend in slight confusion that hardened into something more serious.

'James,' he started, but James cut him off.

'Sirius, mate, it was just a question, you don't need to answer me if you weren't entirely comfortable with-'

It was James' turn to have his sentence severed.

'James, it is no bother for me to tell you that Lily Evans has been acing her classes while you've been skipping them due to your exhaustion, or that she offered to help Moony with his potions essay the day before yesterday as the poor boy has been fantastically clueless about the subtle differences between brewing the Draught of Living Death and Veritaserum, or that her best friend Karla-whatever has been a total jerk to her and she now sits alone at mealtimes while Molly keeps trying to cheer her up. I could also tell you that she's developed a sudden liking towards Apple Treacle Tart Pudding and polishes off a fair bit every dinner, and that while she's trying really hard to put on a brave face, her spat with Karla-whatever has slightly undone her and I hope to goodness that Moony and Molly can put her back together.'

Sirius paused for breath while James tried the swallow the extensive information that Sirius had shot at him in under a minute and found himself growing suspicious of his exquisitely detailed description.

'Now hold on there for a minute, Padfoot. How on earth did you manage to gather that much about Lily? Do you…' his eyes grew wide and his head shook involuntarily at the appalling thought.

Sirius caught on to James' erratic thinking and clapped his shoulder gently, now worried for his friend's sanity.

'Prongs. Shut up. I would never - I don't see Lily that way, fool.' His eyes softened as he continued. 'I've been keeping an eye out for her, because I finally get what you see in her. Don't get me wrong, there was never a time that I despised her or anything,' he added hastily as James' eyes grew murderous. 'It's just that I couldn't bother to familiarise myself with a prissy like her, or someone I assumed to be a priss; but that was before I got to know her.'

'So you've been getting to know her now, have you?' James' voice was low, and Sirius fought the urge to smack his head to set his thoughts running straight.

'James, cool it off! Yes, I have been, but only for you. See, it's easy for someone as sweet as Moony to get to know people, really connect with them, despite his inhibitions.'

James nodded blindly, wondering where Sirius was going with this.

'But you, my mate, end up getting everyone on your wrong side simply because you make the world believe that you re nothing but a shallow, arrogant, self-loving prat.'

'Hey! I do not!' His annoyance was unmistakeable, and Sirius laughed in short barks.

'Shut up and listen,' he urged, all seriousness returning at once. 'You're perfect for her, James, as she is for you. I can see that. Molly can see that, and Moony has finally agreed. Now it's up to you make sure that she sees it, too. Mind you, she isn't having the best of times,' he warned him as he saw his face light up in a look of pure joy.

'Lily,' he whispered, the name a prayer on his lips.

The look in Sirius' eyes softened and he clapped James on the back once more,

'Yes, well, I was wrong when I said everything I did a few years back about the two of you being very wrong for each other,' Sirius said simply, and James stared at his best friend's easy confession. He alone knew how hard it was for Sirius to accept even the thought of James dating someone as he lived in perpetual fear of losing his best friend, too, much like the family that he did.

He got up from the couch and Sirius rose alongside, slightly confused.

'Sirius. I honestly can't thank you enough for everything you've just told me today.' Sirius wondered how deep James' feelings for Lily ran as he observed the look of simple bliss on James' face and prayed that he wouldn't mess things up this time, as he'd been famously doing for over four years.

'And no,' James laughed at Sirius. 'I know what you're thinking and no, I am most definitely not going to scare her away from me and into Snivelly's greasy arms.' He sobered down as he remembered the look of excruciating pain on Lily's face as her best friend had called her a 'filthy mudblood' in front of the whole school and cringed. 'Er, scratch that. I'm just not going to lose her. Period.

'Try getting her first,' Sirius grinned, and the two proceeded to leave the common room. It was time for dinner, and Quidditch practice began in earnest for James from the next day onwards. But even the prospect of an infuriated, sleepy team and the unforgiving skies at five in the morning refused to dampen his soaring spirits.

The Great Hall was especially alive that day as students from all four houses buzzed excitedly. The onset of the Quidditch season was an especially tantalising topic of discussion and the professors were forever wishing that their students would generate half this enthusiasm when it came to their education.

James ran towards the Gryffindor table with Sirius in tow, all the while scanning the benches for the sight of Lily somewhere. When he saw her sitting somewhere in the middle flanked by none other than Remus and Molly, a small flare of jealous burned in his heart but he doused it immediately. No. it wouldn't do good to seem to be the jealous, possessive types before even landing into a relationship with the girl.

Plastering a wide smile to conceal the sudden onslaught of nerves, James shot what he believed to be a dazzling smile across the table as Remus caught his eye, mouthing word that he couldn't quite grasp as he was still on his way to where they sat.

'What do you think Moony's trying to tell me?' James turned tp asked Sirius, a goofy smile now plastered on his face. 'Does he not realise I can't quite hear him?'

'James,' whispered Sirius urgently. 'Do you really want to go and sit there just yet? I bet Moony's trying to tell you to cool it off just a little,' he added. For though he was delighted to see some life sparkle in James' eyes again, he was still a little wary as he knew full well how overwhelming James could be and how difficult that exuberance may be for Lily to swallow just then. The two had already shared some rather unpleasant memories in the past, and Sirius really did not want a repeat of any drama.

But James was in a trance, enraptured by Lily, whose shiny emerald eyes were now staring directly into his. James was half-convinced that she could quite clearly read the contents of his soul.

'Hey, James?' she called out haltingly, and he wondered if now was the time to make a run for it.

'Come on here and sit with us, will you? Sirius, you too. I'd like to have your opinion on something.'

And James would have nearly fainted if not for the strong hand that shoved him ahead. Sirius grinned.

This was going to be the start of something very interesting.

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