Team: Tutshill Tornadoes
Position: Chaser 3
Writing about: A character doing a certain action (James, (pick)ing up)
Title: Red Scarf
Words: 2,782 (Using doc manager before adding A.N)
Prompts used: 5. (song) Bring Me Down, by Miranda Lamber, 8. (dialogue) "Hatred knows no bounds, huh.", 15. (word) breezy
(Prompts explained below)
For those of you innocent people who stumble upon this one-shot and are unaware of my speaking of Quidditch, teams and nonsense, it is alright! This is for a sort of contest on a forum and nothing that you aren't allowed to read, so enjoy!
Disclaimer: Characters and all other recognizable written words such as 'wand' belong to J.K Rowling.
It was all luck...
Wasn't it?
Red Scarf
It was a beautiful Saturday morning in November; the blue sky with a few wisps of clouds that the students of Hogwarts saw as they entered the Great Hall said it all. A few students even brightened at the thought of a nice sunny day at Hogwarts in the cool Scotland air.
Then in trudged the Marauders, James Potter had lead the group wearing robes different from his friends who followed behind, yawning. They were in their fourth year, yet the talk of the school. James' eyes were flitting this way and that, despite his easy-going smile and lazy gait.
James Potter was nervous.
What for, you may ask?
Why, for the quidditch match of course! Today the team of Gryffindor would be facing their foes, the Slytherin quidditch team. It was also why he was wearing his robes early, his captain had said so.
Never did the two have a match played against each other without dirty plays or someone getting sent to the hospital wing for a week.
Plus, it was the Quidditch Final!
James had to, just had to win against them. It would be such an embarrassment to lose to Slytherin like last year. He hadn't been able to go to class without that rotten Snivellus gloating about it to his face. The git didn't even play quidditch!
Merlin, James hated that guy.
When he threw himself onto the bench, his friends sitting around him, Remus Lupin spoke up.
"What are you scowling at, Prongs?" he asked, checking over his shoulder.
James realized he had been frowning in Remus' direction.
"Only thinking about Slytherin and how they cheated last year." James told him. "Broke two of our chaser's arms. Even cursed our seeker a few days before the match!"
"Hatred knows no bounds, huh?" Sirius grunted.
"Yea." James nodded, looking down.
Sirius saw the nervousness on his best mate's face.
"You're going to beat them this year, Prongs." Sirius said, reassuringly. "The slimy Slytherins are no match for us Gryffindors."
"Yea." Peter agreed. "We'll be cheering for you!"
"We'll also have a big banner too." Remus said. "Now Prongs, get some food in your stomach or else you'll feel sick."
"I already feel sick." James snapped, clutching his stomach.
"It'll make you feel better," Remus tried.
"Spinach is supposed to be healthy, but it doesn't taste any good going down!" James said.
"Prongs, do you remember what happened last year?" Remus asked.
"Do remind me." Potter said dryly.
"Well-" Remus began but was interrupted.
"I know! I know!" Peter yelled. "I want to say it! I know what happened!"
"Ok, Wormtail." Remus said, uncertainly.
The boy had been stuffing some toast in his face before interrupting Remus. The toast had then been splattered all over Sirius' now snoring head as Peter spoke. James wrinkled his nose. It would not be pretty when his best mate woke up.
"So, last year-at the quidditch finals, you were sick!" Peter exclaimed, pointing at James. "That was because you didn't eat anything and nearly died."
Peter's eyes widened at the end of the sentence dramatically. Remus chuckled quietly at what Peter had said while James rolled his eyes.
"Not quite, Wormtail." Remus said. "He nearly fainted, really."
"I'm going to go now." James muttered, standing up.
"You haven't eaten!" Remus stated.
"Wha-?" Sirius asked, sitting up with eyes half closed.
As James left the Great Hall, he heard a loud scream and an 'I'll get you Pettigrew! No one touches my hair' before snickering to himself.
James walked onto the Hogwarts grounds, holding his broom.
The walk down to the Quidditch Pitch was not long. If anything, it was certainly quiet. James thought that this was a rarity in his life, concerning his group of friends.
When he arrived, James made his way to the change rooms.
Something caught his eye, though. James turned his head to see a red scarf soaring in the wind. He frowned at he sight, before jogging over to catch it. The scarf fell down onto the ground, flapping every now and again in the breeze.
James picked it up and held it in his hand, the other holding his broom. It was red, a pretty, deep red with a lion sewed on the end.
"Well, it's late for you." Gideon pointed out.
"You always arrive for an early fly." Fabian said, backing up his brother.
"I was trying to get this scarf." James told them. "It took awhile because it was in the wind."
There was a short silence before Charlotte spoke.
"That's not your scarf, is it?" Charlotte asked. "It's not very...manly."
"It is so!" argued James. "Look, there's a lion."
"Yes and we are Gryffindors." Charlotte told him. "You do know our symbol is a lion, right?"
"Do I look stupid?" James asked, annoyed.
There was silence.
"Oh shut it, the lot of you!"
"Language Potter!" came the lovely voice of their captain.
"I wasn't even-" James was cut off by a glare from his captain.
He then slunk back, proceeding to get ready for the match. The Gryffindor captain was Georgie Summerville and her favourite pass-time was inflicting pain-sorry, practicing quidditch with her team. James was terrified of her.
Georgie had sharp and cold blue eyes, that pierced through her teammates when they were lying to her. Her bushy black hair was always kept in a neat bun or ponytail. She held herself with dignity and pride, her firm voice and solemn expression making it clear that she wasn't one to joke with.
"Now, everyone here?" Georgie was met with silence.
James looked at his team, searching their faces for any signs of fear. The Gryffindor third year chaser even had an impassive face, staring at nothing with his jaw set.
If these weren't the Quidditch finals, James would be laughing.
"Alright, I want you to play your best, be your best and keep calm." Georgie said. "I don't want you getting upset at Madam Hooch because she didn't see something happen. Those Slytherins want that reaction and we know they play a mean game."
Everyone nodded.
"We've practised hard and I know each and every one of you will be brilliant out there today." Georgie continued. "Our team is in top form and look, we got here. Whether we win or lose, you guys have earned it."
The team clapped.
"So let's go and get that Quidditch Cup!" Georgie yelled.
The whole team cheered before standing up. James was making his way out when he felt someone hold him back by his elbow. He saw it was the captain. James' eyes widened slightly.
Was she going to make him take bludgers?
Was she going to eat him?
Was she-was she going to make him quit the team?!
Georgie seemed to study him for a while before asking,
"James, is this your scarf?"
She held up the red scarf he had left on the bench. James nodded slowly, wondering if he was going to get in trouble for bringing a scarf in.
"Ok, well-here." Georgie handed it to him. "They're cleaning the change rooms as soon as we leave, that's why I wanted you in your robes before we came."
"What do you want me to do with it?" James asked, frowning.
"What do you think?" Georgie asked.
"You want me to wear it? It's not even winter!"
"Wear it, or lose it, Potter."
"Fine."
James pulled the scarf around his neck, feeling silly all the while. EVERYONE would notice! Evans would too! He had just started to fancy her and this would most definitely blow all of his chances. How embarrassing.
It was summer, for Merlin's sake!
He followed his captain to where the rest of the team were standing.
"NOW WE HAVE OUR GRYFFINDOR TEAM-" A voice boomed loudly.
"That's our cue." Georgie muttered.
The team mounted their brooms and flew out from under the structure and onto the pitch. James went ahead of the third year who appeared to be gathering his bearings.
The match had begun.
The Gryffindor party was at its height.
James could tell.
Fellow Gryffindors were running around, cheering and screaming to the music. Some were dancing, others throwing chocolate frogs at each other; while even others were bobbing for water-proof spelled cauldron cakes in a bucket of butterbeer.
Yet James sat in an arm-chair staring down at a red scarf with a golden lion sewn onto it. He studied the way it had been delicately stitched, noticing how plain, but how nice it was.
Maybe it did belong to a Gryffindor at this party.
However, to James, it was his lucky scarf.
The scarf was the reason they won, he was sure of it.
It was because of this scarf, that James had scored the winning goal one millisecond before the snitch was caught.
It was because of this scarf that Slytherin had not won when they caught the snitch and Gryffindor was able to beat them because of the quaffles scored.
This rarely ever happened.
"Come on Prongs!" Sirius called from the make-shift dance floor. "Are you honestly going to sit there all night?"
He tucked the scarf into his pocket before grinning at his friend
"Course not."
It was fifth year, James was sitting outside of the library on the dusty floor. He had his elbows resting on his knees, while his hands twisted the red scarf through his fingers. The scarf seemed new, but there had been many 'reparo' spells put onto it countless times. He had an undeniably nervous day, filled with apprehensiveness but it was his scarf that had helped him for the most part of it. But then again, it was a non-magical object, how much could it do? He felt nervousness once again.
James was going to ask her out.
Lily Evans.
It would be the first time James was going to admit his feelings to her publicly. When he had asked Sirius about how to go about it, his best friend had told him this,
"Birds like a bit of command, mate."
Sirius had carefully instructed James on what to do.
"It'll be a breeze."
James heard Lily's voice.
"Right, Alice. Like that's going to happen!"
Then the she appeared.
Lily and Alice came out of the library, walking near James was standing. James quickly stood up and walked to them.
"Evans, could I speak to you?" James asked.
Lily gave Alice an annoyed look as her friend backed away, leaving her with James alone. She let out a loud sigh before looking at James.
"Yes?" She asked, impatiently.
"Go out with me, yea?" James blurted out.
He clenched the scarf in his hand tightly.
There was no way she would refuse when he had his lucky scarf.
"No."
What?
"What?" James asked, surprised.
His grip on the red scarf loosened.
Had he heard her right? Had she really said no?
"No." Lily repeated. "I said no. Is that to complicated for you to comprehend?"
She then left him in the middle of the hall, speechless.
James slowly made his way back to the Gryffindor common room, staring off. How could she refuse? He had been confident, hadn't he? He had taken control, didn't he? James had followed all that Sirius had told him to do.
'Well,' James thought. 'Maybe I didn't take that much control. I probably came off as a nervous wreck too.'
As he stumbled through the fat lady portrait, Sirius' voice carried over.
"What did she say, mate?" asked the grinning Sirius. "Bet she said yes!"
He was sitting on the couch by the fire. Remus and Peter were nearby, in a game of wizards chess. The two glanced up at James as he dropped the scarf onto the couch.
"She said no." James told them.
"No?" Sirius asked, eyes wide. "How could she say 'no'?"
"Maybe because you hex Snape in the corridors?" Remus offered sarcastically.
"Not helping, Moony." James sighed, falling into an arm-chair.
"You did follow my advice, right?" Sirius asked.
"Your advice?!" Remus scoffed. "That was bogus! I thought you were pulling his leg!"
James looked at Sirius suspiciously.
"You weren't, were you?"
"Prongs! Of course I wasn't!" Sirius exclaimed before turning to Remus. "I don't see you with a girlfriend."
Remus glared at Sirius.
James couldn't help but agree with Sirius silently. He felt guilty at the thought.
"You know perfectly well why I don't." Remus responded, turning to James. "You didn't follow his advice, did you?"
"I-" James began slowly. "Well..."
There was a resounding smack through the common room as Remus slapped his palm to his forehead.
"See this is why she said no." Remus told him.
"Shut up Moony." Sirius said, seriously. "Did you keep good confidence? Did you take control?"
"I don't think I did too well on that part." James admitted quietly. "Harry wasn't on my side today."
James had pointed at the scarf. This action caused Remus to groan an Sirius to sigh loudly.
"Prongs!" Sirius said exasperated. "That isn't a 'lucky' scarf!"
"It's not just a scarf! It's name is Harry!" James defended, picking up the scarf.
"Prongs, believing that scarf is lucky, is as bad as believing Padfoot's advice is any good." Remus said.
"Oi!" Sirius exclaimed. "My advice works plenty good, Moony."
"It's true. Once I asked how I would get some luck with the ladies" Peter said, speaking for the first time. "He gave me some shampoo and told me plenty of birds would look at me."
"Thank you, Wormtail!" Sirius grinned before turning to Remus. "See?"
"That was true." Remus nodded. "They all looked since you were being attacked by some actual birds."
"The bird seed did do the trick." Sirius snickered.
Peter shivered at the memory.
"Weren't we talking about that scarf Prongs has?" He asked.
"Ah, yes." Remus nodded.
All three turned to James.
"It is not a lucky scarf, Prongs." Remus said. "Luck does not make it one's own action, instead making it a chance."
"Sounds like something out of a muggle Dishary." James grumbled.
"Dictionary." Remus corrected.
"Prongs." Sirius began. "This scarf didn't make Gryffindor win the game last year. That was you. This scarf didn't make you get O's on everything. That was all you. You've almost always gotten perfect marks every year! Even before that scarf."
"Why do you want a scarf that keeps you from Lily, anyway?" Peter asked.
"I-I.." James stuttered, before looking down.
"Prongs, for a while now, I thought you were replacing me with that scarf." Sirius said.
"We thought you were going mad, actually." Peter supplied, oh so helpfully.
Sirius elbowed him in the gut, muttering on about an 'emotional moment'.
"Just let go of it Prongs." Remus said. "It does no good to get attached to an inanimate object."
James stared at them, indecision coming over him like a hard hit to the head. He then looked down at the scarf in his hands. Wasn't it just a plain old stupid scarf anyway? Why had he even kept it?
"You're right." James said.
His friends blinked at him as he nodded slowly. It was as if James needed to reassure himself of what he was going to do.
"You're right." James repeated before looking at them. "I need to let it go."
"James!" Lily called from down the stairs.
James raced down, wand in hand.
"What?" He asked, looking around for danger.
"You put that wand away James Potter!" Lily exclaimed. "I am fully capable of protecting myself from any harm."
"Will do, Mrs. Potter." James grinned, relaxing. "So, why did you call?"
"I need you to sort the laundry." Lily told him.
"The laundry?!" James explained, horrified.
Merlin's Pants! That was even worse than any dark wizard!
"Yes, the laundry." Lily said.
"Didn't we do that yesterday, though?" James asked, alarmed look still upon his face.
"Yes." Lily nodded.
James relaxed.
"This is from Hogwarts though." Lily said. "I've been sorting through our trunks."
"Oh." James paled. "You uh, you didn't find a brown journal in my trunk, did you?"
"No, but I did find something quite interesting." Lily smirked.
If possible, James' face paled even more.
What had she found?
"Er-what did you find?" James asked, afraid.
"Something I lost in fourth year." Lily told him.
She held up a recognizable red fabric with a golden lion sewn onto it.
"This." Lily said.
James stared at her with wide eyes.
"What?"
A.N AHAHAHAHHAAA Cliff Hanger. I feel so...POWERFUL! *evi laughter*
Anyway, judges.
The Prompts as mentioned before are:
Bring Me Down, by Miranda Lamber- As this is a song, I read somewhere in the FAQ that we didn't have to put the lyrics in, just the feeling. Well, I kind of moved the definition of the song into the story :) Sort of...I looked up the 'supposed' definition of the song and apparently it's about 'no matter how many times he hurts her, she loves him' sooo, no matter how many times that Lily refuses to go out with James, he'll still like her. Kind of what I was trying to imply.
"Hatred knows no bounds, huh."- Sirius said this above. I was originally planning for the match to go on and James said that, but it ended up with this. Hope it was good enough :)
Breezy- I used this word twice. I used it where the scarf was flowing in the breeze. The second time I used it was when Sirius spoke to James, saying it was easy. He said it would be a 'breeze'.
Short (Or long) Overview: James is really nervous about his Quidditch Match. He heads down to the changing rooms by the pitch and notices something red flowing in the wind. James runs over to get it, curious on what it is. Turns out, it's a red scarf. He doesn't know who owns it as no one is around and it doesn't say a name on it. James then goes with his team mates to the change room for a pep talk with their captain before the game. James is forced to wear the scarf because the change rooms will be cleaned. During the match, James scores the winning goal. Slytherin caught the snitch but he was able to increase the score before they won. It was a rare thing and so James felt the scarf made him have the ability to do so. We get a skip through time to him asking out Lily while holding the scarf. James is nervous, as most are when asking out the person they fancy. Lily refuses and so James loses faith in the scarf. He still has a bit though, but that is thrown away when Sirius, Remus and Peter manage to convince him that it is nothing but a regular, plain old scarf. Later, when Lily is going through James and her's trunks (obviously before Harry), she finds her old red scarf in his trunk. Lily is surprised by this and then goes to James to ask him about it. James of course, is just as surprised.
Whew! That was a long wrap-up.
Then again this is a long one-shot.
So, thank you all for reading this! :)
Cheers,
Lupe
P.S Did you see any small puns/word play in there? I love doing that :)
P.P.S LET IT GO, LET IT GO, LET THAT SCARF GO JAMES!