Chapter One

A/N: I hope you like this! I hope I got their personalities right, please excuse it and tell me in the reviews if I didn't. Well, enjoy!

"But Evans, you never go to any of my matches!" James Potter complains, following me around the common room.

"And why should I?' I ask. Potter ignores this.

"But this time we're going to win!" I stop abruptly and turn around.

"Oh, really? And why is that, exactly?" He smirks and runs his hand through his already messy hair.

"Well, because I'm playing chaser, as usual." I roll my eyes and push through the 6th year dormitory door, slamming it shut behind me.

I flop down on my bed. Honestly, that Potter is such an arrogant prat! Always bragging to his friends, hexing people for no reason, though he has gotten better, and messing up his hair, making it look even cuter—er, worse. Making it look even worse.

I get up and start braiding my hair back and framing my eyes with a little mascara. It's one of those days where I have bags under my eyes from staying up so late studying.

I don't get it! I work hard and take notes throughout all of my classes, and James just laughs in the back with his friends. And we get the same grade! Admittedly I might get a little higher in a few classes like Transfiguration or Charms, but he does better than me in Care of Magical Creatures or Defense Against the Dark Arts.

I sigh and look out the window. James is walking onto the quidditch pitch with Sirius, who happens to be a beater. I find myself wanting to be down there, to join the crowd of spectators already gathering. I want to watch James Potter. I don't know why, I mean, I make a point of ignoring him. But I am overcome with an urge to watch him.

I look over to my friend Alice, who is laying on her bed, immersed in 1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi. "I better head down to breakfast, Alice," I tell her. She doesn't look up and just mutters,

"Huh? Okay, whatever." I leave her murmuring about Venomous Tentaculas or Mandrakes or whatever else is in that book.

When I reach the portrait hole instead of taking the usual right that would take me to the Great Hall, I take a left toward the front doors. I walk out and head toward the quidditch pitch. From here I watch James score a goal and soar off, pumping his arms in the air. I smile. Slytherin is getting pounded.

Apparently everyone knows about James' obvious crush on me, for just when I'm taking my seat Sean Jordan, the commentator of the match spots me. "Oi! Potter! Looks like Evans finally decided to show up. Better up your game now, huh?" The Gryffindors laugh and the Slytherins jeer.

I look up and see James staring at me with those piercing hazel eyes of his. I blush. James is staring so intently he doesn't hear Sirius's warning until it was too late. "James! JAMES! Look behind you!" He yells.

James turns to look just as a bludger lands a blow to his chest. He staggers on his broom and has just managed to regain his grip when the second bludger catches him in his stomach and knocks him clear off his broom. Everything went quiet. Sirius gives a shout and flattens himself on his broom, but I know he won't get there in time.

James falls for what seems like forever. The teachers' reflexes are too slow. At the last minute there is a hasty incantation and a half-formed spell shoots toward James, at the last minute slowing the fall. When he hits the ground there is a crushing sound as all the air is knocked out of James' lungs.

My brain goes fuzzy. All I care about was getting onto that field, getting to James. I swerve and dodge everyone who is trying to stop me as I push through the crowd and make it to James' side.

He looks terrible. His arm is bent at an awkward angle, and there is something white poking out of his leg that takes me a second to realize is his shinbone. Cuts frame his face, and his glasses had fallen off. I am sure there is much more damage internally. I kneel over him.

I listen intently for a breath. For the longest time, there is nothing. What if he was dead? I don't even know what I felt about him, and he might be dead. This couldn't be happening.

I am shaken out of my thoughts by a rasping sound, and James' chest rises slightly. Hot tears stain my eyes of relief that he was alive, that there might be a chance. I use my sleeve to brush away a trickle of blood that ran from James' mouth.

Sirius lands next to me and I hear a gasp from him as he takes in James' condition. Sirius falls to his knees.

Professor McGonagall pushes her way through the crowd. "Miss Evans, Mr. Black, I'm afraid we need to get Mr. Potter up to the hospital wing immediately." I straighten up and keep watching James. Sirius takes no notice of her.

I gently kneel down to him. "Sirius? We need to move James now, okay? He needs to go to the hospital wing. We can visit him soon," I tell him, though I don't want to leave James. I want to stay by him, to be there when he wakes up.

Sirius looks up at me, and tears are staining his face. "It's all my fault," he cries. "If I had only gone into a deeper dive—"

I cut him off, just realizing something. "No," I said. "It's not your fault, Sirius, it was because I showed up that he was distracted and didn't dodge the bludger." I drop to my knees. It's all my fault. James was staring at me and didn't hear Sirius, didn't see the bludger.

Professor Flitwick begins bustling around and levitating James onto a stretcher. I stare at the ground and pick up James' broken glasses. I barely register the pain as I squeeze them so hard the broken glass pierces my skin.

I look up and see James being carried back to the castle. I don't even hesitate. I stand up and run towards the hospital wing, Sirius on my heels.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I was going to make this a one-shot, but I wanted to get this up. Please review!