Disclaimer: No, not I. I am merely a broke college student, not an award-winning author…yet.
Warning: Contains much fluff and cheese
It takes a lot of focus and mind power to play quidditch. Not many wizards and witches realize this. But it does. So, for those that believe I am all brawn and no brains, I ask you this: have you ever been forced to play a rival team in bad weather, on a Saturday at eight in the morning, when Lily Evans is watching you from her seat next to Daniel Ederson? I thought not.
"Potter!"
I snapped out of my trance and caught the quaffle that was currently flying at my head. There was no time to check to see if Lily had seen that catch, I needed to score. Or else Gryffindor would fall behind and risk loosing to Slytherin. It was all tactics. Our chasers were better then theirs, but (unfortunately) their seeker was better then ours. If we could keep over a 150-point lead before the snitch was caught, we could win. Naturally, the only way to do this was to score using the quaffle. So, naturally I had to pay attention, considering I was holding the quaffle.
After scoring ten points for the gold and scarlet, I chanced another glance at Evans. She looked perfect today, (not that she doesn't always look perfect). Her face was scrunched in a thoughtful way and her red hair was blowing in the fierce wind. A Gryffindor scarf was wrapped tightly around her neck and her gloved hands were holding a roaring banner. Ederson had an arm around her waist. The lion from within me growled and I put all my attention back onto the game.
"You look peeved," my best mate, (and fellow quidditch player) Sirius Black, was currently flying lazily next to me. His beaters club was held loosely in his left hand and he was swatting bludgers away as though they were merely pesky flies.
"Evans is here with Ederson," I grunted, stealing the quaffle from mid-air.
"Oh, yea, I see her. Tough luck mate, maybe next time."
"If there is a next time," I grunted while dodging a bludger. "Go do your job!"
"Aye-aye Captain!" He mock saluted and flew off, swinging his bat high over his head.
I looked back over at Evans I could have sworn our eyes met, if only for the briefest of seconds.
"Potter!"
I snapped back onto the game, but it was too late. The quaffle slipped right threw my outstretched fingers and into the waiting arms of a Slytherin below.
"Tough luck Potter!" The brute chortled menacingly.
"Yea, no kidding." I sighed thinking of Evans.
"James! Do your job!" Sirius called out to me. I gave him a very rude finger gesture behind the referees back and soared off to get the ball back. Once I had fixed my blunder, I tore off for the other end of the pitch, leaving the booing and hissing Slytherin's behind me. And of course, I scored using one hand. I hope Evans saw that.
The game blazed on, Gryffindor at 130 and Slytherin at 30. The cloud above us released their full bellies and the pitch, it's spectators, and the players all became soaking wet. I didn't mind though, because Evans loved the rain. I glanced at her and my heart soared. Her hair was wet and dripping into her face, but she still looked thrilled to be there. I was happy to note that Ederson didn't look so happy.
"Potter!"
I reached out for the quaffle, but due to the rain it slid from my fingers. Luckily, (this time) another Gryffindor chaser was parked beneath me. She caught it, and took off for Slytherin's end. I followed close behind, but I doubted she'd need my help. She was brilliant. Just signed a contract with Appleby Arrows.
"Potter!"
I looked up sharply and found that a bludger was coming directly at my left side. I dodged. It was close. I glanced over towards the Gryffindor stands. Lily was on her feet, staring anxiously in my direction. I grinned, then reminded myself of where I was.
Our chaser scored and the Slytherin's began to boo once again. 140. Only another fifty points and then the game was ours. Unless Slytherin caught the snitch after they'd caught up. Or, for some remarkable reason they caught the snitch now. Which didn't seem likely.
Lighting shot across the sky and a few fans screamed in protest at the awful weather. I stole the quaffle from a Slytherin chaser and scored another ten points. Forty more.
The crowd gasped. The seekers were diving for the snitch. I really wanted to close my eyes and not watch this. Nearly everyone knew what the outcome would be. Of course, being the captain, I'm not allowed to actually close my eyes during a match. Slytherin was in the lead, of course. He was smaller than our seeker. A few years younger built for that position. But then by some miracle, our seeker, Aaron Gibbley was his name, began to catch up. Faster, and faster and then-
"Potter!" Lily was screaming my name. I looked towards the stands and written on her face was sheer panic. That was the last thing I saw before a bludger hit me in the skull. As I stated before, Quidditch requires a lot of focus and mind power.
"Bloody prats should be expelled." Sirius grumbled. He sounded far away. As if we were attempting to communicate over a bad floo connection.
"I have to admit it was an effect distraction method," Remus Lupin, one of my other best mates said.
"Not effective enough," Sirius said smugly.
"Do you think he'll be okay?" When had Lily Evans gotten here?
"Sure Evans. Pomfrey says his ribs will heal in a day or so and his skull is too thick for anything to penetrate it. Didn't you say that once or twice?" Once again Sirius sounded smug.
There was a long silence.
I was attempting to recall why I liked quidditch so much. It felt as though I'd gotten run over by an angry manticore. The two things I really noticed, were my ribs and the throbbing headache that wouldn't go away. Slowly, I opened my eyes.
"Hey Prongs!" Sirius said enthusiastically.
"Who won?" I croaked out.
"What?" Remus asked, in utter disbelief.
"The match, who won?"
"Well, we did." Remus said. "But that's really not the-"
"Brilliant," I said, closing my eyes again. "You three should go join the after party. Pomfrey will take care of me. All I really want to do is sleep anyway."
"Sure thing captain!" Sirius thumped me on the shoulder, then said, "Come on Moony. Peter smuggled in some firewhiskey."
"Get better Prongs!" Remus said, while probably being dragged out by Sirius.
However, I didn't hear Lily leave. This caused my already stressed heart to beat a little faster.
"You can leave too Evans," I said in that same sort of croaky voice.
"Oh, I erm… well I'm not really one for parties and the chairs here are more comfortable for reading and such. Would it really be such a bother if I just stayed?"
"Suit yourself love," I said with a yawn. When had I gotten so tired? I was having a decent conversation with Lily Evans; this was not a time for napping! I tried to think of something intelligent and witty to say. What I came up with was, "Did you like the match?"
"Hmm? Oh, yes. Gryffindor played very well."
I opened my eyes to observe her better. She looked as though she had just climbed out of a swimming pool. Yet, I had never found her more beautiful. Her hair was drying slightly curly and the eyeliner around her emerald eyes was smudged. Her scarf hung limply around her neck and in her hands was the pair of black mittens she'd previously been wearing.
"We did didn't we? I was surprised that Aaron was able to dive so fast for the snitch," I yawned again. "I've been watching the Slytherin practices and their seeker is incredibly fast."
She frowned. "Is that all you can think about?"
"Hmm?"
"Tactics and… how well everyone else played? You could have been seriously injured James."
A shiver ran down my spine when she said my name. It wasn't in the usual harsh tone she spoke to me with. I let it roll off my shoulders. "But I wasn't."
"You could have been!"
"Were you worried Evans?" I raised a brow, knowing she would yell stomp her feet and then probably leave. Then I would spend the next thirty minutes going over every detail of the conversation and wondering why I had to go and ruin it.
A faint blush crept up into her cheeks. "I… I was."
I must have gotten hit harder than I thought I had. Lily Evans was actually admitting that she might have felt a shred of humanity towards me. "Sorry, what?"
She took a seat on the edge of my bed and began to twist her mittens in her hands. "It's just, seeing you falling like that and then hearing Pomfrey say you might have a concussion not to mention the blood clotting and serious fractures in your ribs, I just… I just… was concerned that," she trailed off. There was a silence and the she said, "I mean, I would have had to take over Head duties if you'd died. It would have been much more work than I ever anticipated."
"Same old Lily Evans," I mumbled, yawning again. "You always wear that mask."
"What mask?"
"That one that keeps everyone out. That prevents anyone from seeing your emotions or your humanity."
"I don't wear a mask," she said indignantly. "I'm genuine with almost everyone I meet."
"Why is it then, that you're never genuine with me?"
"You'd exploit my weaknesses." She said this with such conviction that I almost believed her. Then I remembered that I wasn't the bad guy in this scenario. In fact, she wasn't really the bad guy either. Isn't that strange? There was no bad guy. Just two people who had misconceptions about each other.
"I wouldn't," I said, with another yawn. "I'm not like that. Sure I'm a prat and a git and a toe-rag with an incredibly thick skull. But I would never exploit anyone. Unless they were a Slytherin." I paused, thinking. "Actually, no, no I don't even think I'd exploit a Slytherin. I'd just hang them up in the dungeons for a few days."
"James?"
"Hmm?" Her face was loosing focus and I could feel sleep beginning to pull me under. I tried to fight it, but I couldn't. My last sane thought was, 'bugger, now I'll never know what she was going to say'.
I woke up what must have been at least twelve hours later. Lily was gone and the sun was coming in through the window above me.
"How do you feel Mr. Potter?" Madam Pomfrey was carrying a large breakfast tray.
"Excellent," I said, my mouth watering. I'd always been a hearty eater.
"Good. You can leave after you've finished breakfast."
I nodded and began to dig in. Less than fifteen minutes later, I was dressed and strolling down the hallways towards the great hall. It was Sunday, which meant that hardly anyone would be up yet, especially not my mates. But I could always go for another muffin or pastry.
"Potter!"
I spun around. Daniel Ederson was walking towards me. "Fantastic game yesterday!"
"Thanks." I really wanted to punch his teeth in.
"Glad to see you're up and moving about."
"Yep."
"Headed to the Great Hall?"
"No. I'm going to the Gryffindor common room actually." I'd decided to do everything in my power to avoid him. Mainly because, I didn't want to upset Lily by kicking his face in.
"Oh, well see you later then."
I nodded and changed directions suddenly. He probably thought I was off my rocker. Oh well. I had never really cared about other people's opinions anyway.
Unsurprisingly the Gryffindor common room was empty. Everyone was probably sleeping off the rambunctious party from last night. However, the last thing I wanted to do was rest. And I knew that was probably the only thing my mates would do. So, I sighed and sank onto the scarlet and gold couch, preparing to wait for hours until I could have any kind of decent social interaction.
I waited maybe five minutes.
"James?"
I turned around. Of course Lily Evans would be up at seven on a Sunday. She was dressed in jeans and a sweater. Her hair was tied back this morning and it looked as though she hadn't gotten much sleep last night.
"Hey," I gave her a smile and my palms started to sweat.
"Feeling better?"
"Yea. Sorry I kind of passed out on you last night," I gave a weak laugh.
"Sorry for not being more considerate. I shouldn't have tried to hold a deep and prolonged conversation with you, just after you'd been hit by a bludger."
I patted the seat next to me and she took it. There was a silence, but surprisingly it wasn't awkward or anything. It seemed right. What broke the silence was actually her stomach growling loudly.
"Hungry?" I asked with a laugh.
She blushed but nodded.
I stood up and offered her a hand. Much to my surprise, she didn't swat it away, or glare, or yell at me. But she took the peace offering. I could feel my heart race and I prayed my palms weren't sweating again.
Half way to the Great Hall, she stopped and turned to face me. I raised a brow, but didn't say anything. I was afraid the only thing that would come out of my mouth would be a pick-up line. She took a few steps closer to me. I could count the freckles under her eyes if I'd wanted to. One day, I probably would. But at the current moment my attention was on her lips. They smelled like strawberries. Slowly, as though she was afraid of my rejection, she placed her lips on mine. They tasted like strawberries too. The kiss was soft and timid and quick and everything that the first kiss between two people should be. We pulled away and stared at each other for a few moments. Then her stomach grumbled again.
"I missed dinner last night," she explained.
I laughed and took her hand again. "You know, I really need to show you where the kitchens are. It's my favorite place in all of Hogwarts I think. Sirius spends most of his free time there. It's why he's so ridiculously fat."
She laughed and my heart jumped in my chest. "The kitchens huh? You want to take me there for dinner tonight?"
I gave her a sly smile. "Sounds like a date to me."
She rolled her eyes. "Maybe that's because it is a date."
"What? The giant squid was busy?"
"He was actually."
"I won't play second to a giant man-eating fish."
"He doesn't eat people James."
"That we know of. What about Carl? He was here in first year, and then no one saw him again!"
"Carl transferred."
I rolled my eyes. "That's so boring!"
She just laughed. But she wasn't laughing at me. But with me. Which was nice, because it had never happened before.
And then I realized something. Although quidditch requires a lot of mind power and focus, if you take your attention off the game, the quaffle might just fall into your hands.
Authors Note: To whom it may concern, (which is really anyone who cares to read this) (which may actually be no one, but whatever) ; Yes, I am back. I apologize that it's simply a one-shot. I wish I had a novel to present to you all, but alas, I have been working. And also I have been lazy. I would also like to apoligizie for the super fluff and cheese. lol
Thanks for reading! If you have a minute I would love a review! Even if it is just one word, or a smiley - frowny face. Is frowny even a word? My computer doesn't think so. And the more I think about it, the more I think I agree with my computer… Anyway, thanks!
Ps. Read some Emily Dickinson and pretend it's me leaving you with a witty and wonderful quote.