[ 4th Year (1974) ]
James Potter in all his fourteen years of living had never felt more disconnected with his surroundings then right now. In the comfort of the red and golden walls of the Gryffindor Common Room (of which he considered a second home) and surrounded by every one of his housemates that attended the Quidditch match earlier that evening, James was only experiencing frustration instead of the sheer excitement and relaxation he was anticipation to feel. They had won and James had lead his team to a victory and yet he still didn't feel like celebrating. Not when Sirius and Peter had brought the firewhiskey through the portrait and everyone else cheered. Not even when Sirius began making speech after speech to the teammates as he haphazardly got upon furniture as his speech got slurred. Gryffindor parties are legendary and yet even the giggle group of second years that kept their eyes on Potter wasn't making him feel any better. He got up halfway through, unable to shake the feeling that he didn't want to be here and realizing just sitting in this atmosphere isn't going to work and he was unwilling to take any more compliments or tell anymore stories of the game. He heard Sirius call after him but Remus had probably stopped Sirius from following him as he heard no one footsteps coming up the stairs behind him, which was all for the better.
He opened the door of their dorm room rather violently and went straight to his bed. "Who does she think she is?" he mumbled, his hand going through his mess of a hair as he groaned. He was replaying the game over and over again and he almost felt the sick feeling that they weren't prepared enough. This was the first Slytherin and Gryffindor match of the year and it seems that he had severely underestimated her.
James is a confident boy and he was unable to think of anyone up to his level in Quidditch and only would privately admit that Emma was close to his skill level at all but he enjoyed any chance to prove to himself and others that he was way better. When he became Captain last year he thought he would have been able to show that off, which he did get to but he realized quickly that it wasn't enough and realized he actually wanted to rub it in Emma's smug face that he became Captain before her after she was so insistent she would become Captain before him.
Yet when he arrived on the train last year and he spotted Emma through a crowd of people, adorning the Captain badge just as he did, he gasped. It had been ages since the Slytherin team even had a female Captain and much less one that has been on the team for only a year. This had dashed his perceptive of his skill level and now this was even worst. While Potter had been holding practicing at the beginning of the school year her team seemed even more organized- they were executing plays perfectly and the whole game was neck to neck with James having to even ask for a time out to reevaluate which he hadn't had to do for any of the other houses all of last year.
The Slytherin team is certainly aggressive and the whole team had always been one for cheating or as they like to put it, pushing against the limits of the rules. Now technically James had no qualms with fighting the same way for the most part it and it usually worked for the Gryffindors anyway because of the penalty shots that James was able to take whenever the refer gave them. He realized he didn't even want to think about the penalty shot though as he roughly grabbed the Captain pin off his robes and look at it, wondering if he even deserved to be Captain at this point. No sooner did the thought enter his mind then he shrug it off because of course he deserved it, he's lead his team to victory multiple times and he was not going to have his whole foundation shaken by one girl even if he was avoiding his housemates after a victory for this.
He turned over and hugged his pillow, smothering his face into it and as his eyes were closed all he could see was Emma Vanity performing the double eight loop, almost flawlessly- and it actually worked. He groaned loudly. And what was worst was the little smirk that she gave him as he flew up to the goal post at their first penalty shot of the game. James thought the smirk was because they were all a bunch of slimy Slytherin in general that didn't think anything applied to them but the fact that Emma was shown to actually have real talent- not only as a Captain but as a player was making James feel a strange rage inside him.
He didn't feel like he won the game at all and he thinks it because of how fucking pleased Emma looked at the end of the game- as if she can just shrug off the lost… like she knew that she got into his head. It was infuriating. It was even more infuriating because he should be feeling proud- he should be feeling unstoppable right now and yet he didn't.
Suddenly it occurred to him that there was something he should really be focusing on was that at the end of the game, Lily had actually gave him a hug- a lingering one. Her cheeks pink with excitement and that is what James really should be focusing on because the girl he fancied had congratulated him on how great he was at not only being a Captain but playing Quidditch. His enjoyment of Lily shows him attention is almost on par with winning in Quidditch and the fact that Emma Vanity could ruining either of these things was beyond infuriating. He smiled smugly at thought that he didn't see anyone congratulating the snakes, ones they fancied or otherwise. And if he thought about it, Emma's smug face, her hair frizzed after a game of Quidditch and her up turned nose was not something James even deemed as worthy of his male gaze- especially when he had the likes of Lily whose red hair and heart spaced face were idealistic in every way, and many males would agree.
This made him feel a lot better and tried to focus on Lily which usually worked and yet James' mind kept creeping back on that eight loop… he fell asleep uneasily that night.
He woke up almost groggily and told his friends that he was fine when he had went to the great hall meet them for breakfast and that he was just tired after the game and how he was up the night before. They all nodded easily and none of them commented or maybe none of them noticed when his eyes kept going to the Slytherin table.
A/N: Since this is my first ever fanfiction I have ever written, I'd totally appreciate a review! While I will love each and every reviews I get if you send me one signed in, I will happily reply to the review you've sent privately in order to answer any and all questions you send in, to explain something if something is unclear or respond to your criticism! I really like to make the dialogue open with the reader and so anything you feel like saying about this story or otherwise is appreciated.