Chapter Eight

For what felt like the first time in weeks, Victoria actually managed a decent night's sleep the night before the match. Perhaps it was the relief of having confided in Pippa, or maybe the reassuring anticipation of Quidditch had been responsible for sending her off. Whatever it was, Victoria was grateful.

She did not, however, feel the same about her wake-up call the following morning.

'Victoriaaaaa!'

Very reluctantly, Victoria opened her eyes to see Lucy jumping manically around the room. When it came to Quidditch, Lucy must have been the world's most enthusiastic spectator. Once, at a Puddlemore- Montrose match, the referee had had to make a special announcement asking if 'the young, blonde woman could please be quiet.'

'Are you ready, Vic?' asked Pippa from her own bed.

'I think so,' grinned Victoria, as the standard pre-match thrill jolted through her stomach. 'Are you?'

Seeing Pippa only served to remind Victoria of her friend's words the previous evening.

'Go get yourself Sirius Black, because he definitely wants you too.'

Maybe a nice win for Gryffindor would help facilitate that, thought Victoria, as she climbed out of bed.

'Georgie, show Vic and Pippa the t-shirts!' demanded Lucy excitedly.

'What t-shirts?' asked Pippa warily.

'I want you both to bear in mind that it was Lucy, not me, who was responsible for these,' grinned Georgina.

She reached into her trunk and produced two tops. One was gold, and emblazoned with Victoria's name, while the other was red and bore Pippa's. Both featured a Gryffindor lion on the back that appeared to actually roar.

'Brilliant!' exclaimed Victoria and Pippa at the same time, causing everyone to burst out laughing.

'We're going to be your fan girls!' declared Lucy happily.

The four girls quickly got changed into their robes- or, in Lucy and Georgina's case, Gryffindor t-shirts and jeans- and then headed down to breakfast together.

The common room and corridors were abnormally busy for a Saturday morning; clearly a good turnout could be expected at the match.

On their way down to the Hall, countless Gryffindors shouted good luck to Victoria and Pippa and, when they reached the Great Hall, the entire Gryffindor table got to its feet and cheered.

Victoria smiled despite the gradually building nerves, and led the way along the table to where the rest of the team were already seated.

Maggie and Keith looked terrified at the prospect of their first match, and neither were touching any food; Ben had a steely, determined look about him, although he was sitting in silence; Sirius was working his way through a bacon sandwich, looking completely at ease; and James was muttering away to himself about last minute tactics.

Without really thinking about it, Victoria squeezed herself into the space between James and Sirius. Pippa smirked at this as she took her own seat besides Maggie. Georgina, meanwhile, sat next to Ben and took his hand, while Lucy sat on James' other side, nest to Remus.

'Morning,' said James distractedly. Then his eyes fell on Lucy's t-shirt, which was emblazoned with Victoria's name. 'Ha! Brilliant idea!'

Peter- who was seated on Sirius' other side- laughed along sycophantically until Sirius elbowed him.

'Remus was responsible for the charm on the lion,' admitted Lucy.

Remus smiled in his usual modest way, and poured Lucy a glass of pumpkin juice.

'Feeling ready, Vic?' asked Sirius, his voice sounding entirely relaxed despite the impending match.

This was textbook Sirius; he never allowed his confidence to slip. A lot of people found this attitude to be one of arrogance, but Victoria personally found it reassuring. The fact that Sirius was never fazed gently reminded her that a lot of things really weren't worth worrying about.

'Yes, I think so,' replied Victoria, and she realized that she truly meant what she said. While she was nervous about her first appearance as Seeker, she also felt as prepared as she would ever be.

'That's the spirit,' grinned Sirius, 'Coffee?'

They both reached for the coffee pot at the same time. Their hands bumped together, sending electric sparks shooting through Victoria's entire body.

'If you want to hold my hand, you only have to ask, Potter.'

Victoria rolled her eyes at Sirius. Was that an invitation?!

'How are you feeling, Ben?' she asked, in an attempt to distract herself.

'Huh? What?'

Ben had just been stroking the ends of Georgina's hair, and looked rather surprised that there were in fact other people around.

'Focus, Benjamin,' instructed James sternly, 'If she's going to be a distraction then she's banned from the match.'

'Hey!' protested Georgina. She gestured to her t-shirt. 'I'm Pippa's fan girl, remember?'

'She's right,' said Pippa, her voice deadly serious, 'I don't think I'll even be able to catch the Quaffle if Georgie isn't there dancing around.'

Everyone laughed, even Maggie and Keith, both of whom were faintly green in colour.

James spent the next ten minute or so attempting to force the team to eat high-energy foods. He was just in the process of trying to force feed Keith a banana, when the arrival of the post interrupted the spectacle.

'James, this is from Mum and Dad!' exclaimed Victoria excitedly.

While their parents were normally diligent writers, they were putting so many hours into work that they seemed to barely have time for eating and sleeping, let alone for anything else.

Victoria read the letter aloud so that her brother could also hear what it said.

'Dear James and Victoria,

First of all, we must apologise. It's an awful excuse, but work has been so busy that we honestly haven't had the time to write half as much as we would like.

Good luck in the match today, especially to you, Vic. Please let us know how your first time at playing seeker goes! Pass on our luck to the rest of the team.

We hope everything else is going as well as usual. James, what has happened to our son? We've yet to receive a single letter about detentions or bad behaviour! Please do tell us if you feel you need a visit to St Mungo's for a head check. Seriously though, well done. We are proud of you both.

Say hello to Sirius for us. We realize that now he has his own flat, he probably won't want to spend the whole holiday at ours anymore. However, please inform him that Christmas dinner is obligatory.

All our love,

Mum and Dad.'

'They're working too much,' said James the moment Victoria had finished reading.

'I suppose they don't have much choice,' she sighed, 'The Auror Office is in complete chaos at the moment.'

She looked down at her plate and picked at a piece of toast.

'Hey,' said Sirius, nudging her gently, 'They're fine. You know that. I can't imagine even Voldermort himself daring to take on your parents.'

Victoria chuckled, and leant her head against Sirius' shoulder for a moment.

Thankfully, a new figure suddenly appeared beside her and James, alerting her to what she was doing.

It was Lily Evans, a mass of red and gold.

'I just came over to say good luck to you all!' she beamed. Her eyes fell on Lucy and Georgina's t-shirts. 'Oh they are so cool! Do you like what I've done to my hair?'

Victoria noticed that she had blended thin streaks of gold into her red waves. They glittered whenever she moved her head, or tossed her hair over her shoulder.

'Well, I'll be watching,' smiled Lily.

She made to leave and then paused.

'Good luck, James.' And, while everyone else sat there with their mouths wide open, Lily leant down and gently kissed James on the check. Then she skipped back down the table, hair sparkling as she went.

God, that girl knew how to play, thought Victoria.

It took James a long while to string together a coherent sentence.

'Right team,' he announced, getting shakily to his feet. He looked dazed, and seemed to lose his trail of thought. 'Oh yeah. Right, Quidditch,' he said finally.

Shaking with laughter, Victoria also got to her feet. The team walked confidently across the Hall, Gryffindors screaming and cheering as they went.

By the time Victoria and the rest of the team had reached the full-to-bursting Quidditch pitch, she was experiencing a severe case of pre-match nerves.

For the first time, she would be playing Seeker, not Chaser. That meant the entire team was relying on her to score them the all important one hundred and fifty points.

'What if I mess up?' she asked of James, as the team gathered in the changing rooms, awaiting the beginning of the match.

'Then you'll be off the team.'

James' smirk softened at the look on his sister's face. 'You won't mess up, Vic.'

'No, you won't.' confirmed Sirius, 'I hope not anyway, or my reputation will be ruined since it was me who told you to try out.'

Victoria elbowed him in the ribs by way of response.

'Right, team,' began James, clapping his hands together, 'Hufflepuff aren't going to know what's hit them. We've got seven fantastic players, including two great new finds in the form of Maggie and Keith. Mark my words, we'll be lifting the Cup again at the end of this year.'

'But no pressure,' added Sirius, to Maggie and Keith, both of whom looked incapable of speech or movement.

'Okay, it's time.'

The team shouldered their broomsticks and walked out onto the pitch.

'Good luck,' said Victoria to Pippa, as they quickly squeezed each other's hands- a pre-match ritual ever since their first game in third year.

The stands were heaving with students, teachers and guests. A mass of red and gold at one end was chanting loudly, while a sea of yellow and black responded in turn. Victoria also noticed that while Ravenclaw was decidedly neutral, a significant number of Slytherins had chosen to don Hufflepuff colours.

Near the front of the SLytherin stand sat Snape, Avery, Mulciber, Bernard and Hunt, all of them looking as unpleasant as usual. Victoria noticed that Snape seemed to direct even more venom into his gaze towards James that normal- evidently Lily's display at breakfast hadn't gone unnoticed.

James moved forward to shake hands with Nicholas Smith, the insanely irritating Hufflepuff captain and keeper.

And then, suddenly, Madam Hooch blew her whistle and the two teams shot into the air.

Victoria immediately began circling the pitch from above, searching for the merest glimmer of gold. James had given her strict instructions to stay out of the action- and path of the bludgers- for as long as possible.

Meanwhile, an intense game was being played out below her. The Hufflepuff chasers had grown significantly better than last term, and were ensuring that James, Pippa and Maggie were having to work hard.

Not that hard though…

Victoria cheered along with the crowd as her brother brought the score up to 50-0 within ten minutes of the game commencing.

Shortly after Pippa put a neat goal past Smith, Victoria spotted a flash of gold. However, it turned out to be the streaks in Lily Evans' hair, as she danced around enthusiastically in her seat.

The Hufflepuff team also had decent beaters, and a couple of times Victoria had to hastily move out of the path of a well-hit bludger. Sirius- who seemed to be almost shadowing her- responded by sending them back towards Smith. The second time Sirius did this, the bludger made contact with the front of Smith's broom, and the Hufflepuff keeper had to make an elaborate grasp for the goalposts in order to stay in the air. Just as this was happening, Maggie threw the Quaffle right through the middle hoop. The Gryffindor spectators roared in delight, while the Slytherins' boos could be heard above the Hufflepuffs' groans.

This seemed to jolt the Hufflepuff cahsers into action, and they managed to put a couple of goals past an increasingly panicked Keith, bringing the score up to 70-20 in Gryffindor's favour.

It was just as Mike Turner- the commentator and Frank Longbottom's best friend- was announcing Hufflepuff's second goal, that Victoria suddenly shot across the pitch, the Snitch dancing before her.

Her Hufflepuff counterpart noticed her movement, and was soon on her tail, while one of the beaters aimed a bludger at her.

Victoria dodged the bludger, and chased after the Snitch, which was darting towards the Slytherin stand. Victoria threw out her right arm, and closed her fingers around the struggling Snitch. She swiped the ball out of the air, right in front of the disgusted faces of Snape, Avery, Mulciber, Bernard and Hunt.

And the stadium erupted.

James reached her first, practically throwing himself onto her broom.

'That's my sister!' he yelled again and again.

Laughing and cheering, the two of them managed to reach the ground, where they were immediately surrounded by masses of people. The team had landed beside them, while the Gryffindor spectators streamed onto the pitch in jubilation.

Sirius pulled Victoria into a hug so tight that he lifted her off the ground.

'That was amazing!' he shouted above the din of the crowd, 'You were amazing!'

Victoria couldn't remember ever having felt quite so ecstatic. She had done it. She had proved to everyone that she deserved to be seeker.

'Thank you so much for making me try out!'

Sirius waved this away, and beamed down at her. 'You only needed a little encouragement.'

Victoria smiled back up at him, watching his dark eyes dance with happiness. This would be the perfect moment. She just needed to kiss him.

But before she could act on the impulse, something behind Sirius caught her eye.

'Fuck me!'

'Excuse me?' smirked Sirius, raising an eyebrow.

Words failed Victoria. Instead she merely gaped at the scene. Curious, Sirius spun around, and his own mouth dropped open in pure shock.

Lily Evans had sprinted across the Quidditch pitch, along with the majority of their house. However, instead of merely slapping players on the back and shouting congratulations, Lily had thrown herself into the arms of a very bewildered looking James. They were now kissing so furiously, it was as if their lives depended on it.

'Did she get hit on the head by a stray bludger?' asked Sirius in disbelief.

Victoria couldn't help but glance up to the Slytherin stand above them. Avery, Mulciber, Bernard and Hunt were all muttering furiously about the match, but the fifth member of their party was conspicuously absent. Clearly Snape hadn't been enjoying the post-match entertainment as much as James currently was.

'What the hell is going on?' yelled Pippa in excitement.

She bounded up to Victoria and Sirius, with Ben hot on her heels, and gawked at James and Lily.

'Well done, everyone!'

Georgina ran up to them, and threw her arms around Ben. The two of them quickly began a similar display to what Lily and James were currently engaged in. Victoria, Sirius and Pippa took a hasty step away from them.

'All these kissing couples…' said Pippa, winking at Victoria.

'You were all amazing!' Lucy had arrived, dragging an amused looking Remus along by the hand.

'That catch was sensational, Vic!' she declared, 'And right under the Slytherins' noses!'

'Thanks!' beamed Victoria, hugging her friend; she felt positively elated.

'He's going to be a nightmare to live with now,' grinned Remus, gesturing to James, who was still eating Lily's face.

'Tell me about it,' groaned Sirius, 'I propose a motion to evict Prongs from our dorm,'

Everyone laughed at this.

They were soon joined by Alex, Peter, Alice and Frank.

Alex made to congratulate Ben, but hastily retreated when he saw that his friend was currently attached to Georgina. Instead he made do with hugging Victoria and Pippa, and shaking Sirius' hand.

'Well done!' beamed Alice, 'Have you seen Maggie and Keith? They look so pleased with themselves.'

Victoria glanced across the pitch to where the two new team members had been hoisted onto the shoulders of some of their friends.

'Where James?' Peter asked of Sirius and Remus.

'How oblivious can you be, Wormtail?' exclaimed Sirius, rolling his eyes.

He pointed over to James and Lily, and Peter's mouth dropped open. Awe flickered across his little eyes.

Suddenly, McGonagall's voice appeared, magically magnified so that the entire stadium could hear her.

'I want this pitch cleared within five minutes. May I remind you that pitch invasions are not permitted! And Potter, Evans, unless you cease that display at once, I will strip both of you of your Headships.'

Laughing hysterically, Victoria and the others joined the crowd streaming back up to the castle.

It was as if they had won the Cup already.

'And then she just threw herself at me. Absolutely no warning.'

An hour or so later, Victoria and James were on their way back from the kitchens. As usual, the house elves had been more than obliging to provide food for the post-match party that had erupted in the Gryffindor common room. Sirius and Peter, meanwhile, had been dispatched to Hogsmede for Butterbeer.

'You don't seem to have any complaints though,' smirked Victoria, as she and James climbed the stairs from the basement to the Entrance Hall, their arms laden with food.

'Well of course not! This is the woman of my dreams we're talking about. The one I'm going to marry!' exclaimed James, getting carried away with himself, 'Wow, this is going to be one good party!'

James and Lily had walked back up to the castle arm in arm, pausing to kiss every few seconds. This had temporarily been halted while Lily went to change, but Victoria was certain that neither Lily nor James would be much company at the party.

Victoria was just about to speak again, when a lone figure skulked into the Entrance Hall from the grounds.

It was Snape.

Upon noticing James, Snape dived for his wand, and sent an unknown hex flying through the room. James blocked it, and gave Snape a look of great contempt.

To Victoria's surprise, James then pocketed his wand, and began making his way up the stairs. Snape stood there, looking rather dumbstruck.

'Oh yeah, you expected me to curse you, right?' said James suddenly, turning back round to look down at Snape. 'Well sorry to disappoint you, Snivellus, but I have better things to do right now. Got to go, Lily is waiting.'

And with that as his parting comment, he jogged up the remainder of the stairs, humming happily.

'You can be a real tosser sometimes. You know that, right?' said Victoria, as the two of them continued their trek back to the common room.

James shrugged unconcernedly, 'He had it coming. Besides, that felt so good.'

The party was in full swing by the time Victoria and James arrived. Someone had found a wireless and tuned it to a popular channel, and the armchairs and tables had all been pushed into the corners so that people could mill around and dance in the centre of the room.

Victoria checked her watch. It was barely lunchtime- this was going to be one hell of a fun day.

While James handed out food, and then went to loiter at the bottom of the girls' staircase so that Lily couldn't possibly miss him when she came down, Victoria went to join Lucy, Pippa, Georgina, Ben and Alex.

'I feel as though I should have gotten more sleep in preparation for this!' said Alex, glancing around the room, which was filling up with students.

'Wait until Sirius and Peter come back with the drinks!' laughed Pippa.

'They're only getting Butterbeer, aren't they?' asked Georgina.

Victoria couldn't help but snort with laughter at this. 'Oh believe me, Firewhiskey will be involved. Before they turned seventeen James and Sirius always used to sneak out to the pub, and then climb back in through my bedroom window, thinking it was James'.'

A moment later, Remus, Frank and Alice wandered over to them, accompanied by the Ravenclaw Mike Turner, who was trying and failing to act inconspicuous.

'Here you go,' said Remus, holding a plate of custard creams out to Lucy, 'They will blow your mind.'

Lucy took one of the biscuits and bit into it.

'Alright, I concede defeat,' she admitted, holding her hands up, 'They are pretty good.'

'Erm, care to explain?' asked Victoria, as the rest of them watched the strange exchange.

'Lucy has never eaten custard creams before, and yet she claims they are disgusting,' said Remus, as if this explained everything.

'And I have to admit that they are not,' conceded Lucy, laughing up at Remus. He smiled back at her, and the two of them began chattering away about something.

'Erm, alright then,' said Pippa, shooting everyone else a look that clearly showed she was questioning the sanity of Remus and Lucy.

'Do you think something is going on there?' Pippa asked of Victoria, when the two of them went to get themselves some food a few minutes later.

Victoria glanced back over to Remus and Lucy. They were sitting in a pair of armchairs, talking about something that must have been amusing since they were both laughing their heads off.

'I suppose they have been spending a lot of time together recently,' reasoned Victoria, as she helped herself to a couple of sandwiches, 'But, come on, this is Lucy we're talking about. She would have told me if she liked him.'

'You haven't told her that you like Sirius,' Pippa shrewdly pointed out.

'Yeah, I suppose you're right.'

A strange feeling suddenly washed over Victoria- a mix of sadness and nostalgia. For five years, she and Lucy had confessed every little secret and desire to each other, and had been the closest of friends. And yet now it was possible that they were both keeping crushes secret. What on earth had happened?

'Don't be glum!' ordered Pippa sternly, 'This is a party. To celebrate our amazing victory no less.'

As she said this, Sirius and Peter climbed through the portrait hole, carrying countless bags that all seemed to contain bottles.

Sirius pulled one of these bottles from a bag, and Victoria immediately recognized the amber liquid to be Firewhiskey.

'Ladies and Gentlemen,' announced Sirius, opening the bottle and taking a generous swig, 'Let the party commence!'

The party lasted all through the day and well into the night. At midnight it was still in full swing, since- by some miracle- McGonagall was yet to make an appearance in her tartan hairnet to tell them all to go to bed. It was a very good job that the deputy headmistress was nowhere to be seen, or else most of Gryffindor house would have been expelled on the spot. It had soon transpired that Sirius and Peter had fetched enough Firewhiskey to knock out the entire student body, and the Gryffindors had pounced on it like parched people did water.

Maggie, who had never had a drink before, had had two glasses before proceeding to launch herself at Keith. The snogging session had only ended when Keith started to look a little green from his own alcohol intake. After that, Victoria and Pippa quickly manhandled Maggie into bed before she could do anything else that she would regret the following morning.

It wasn't just Maggie and Keith, however. Ben had been forced to down some Dutch courage in order to comply with Georgina's demands for a slow dance, when her favourite song came on the wireless; Frank and the Ravenclaw, Mike Turner, had managed to invent a drinking game that involved downing Firewhiskey from each other's shoes; and, Peter had had no more than three glasses before passing out in an armchair, after which Sirius had quickly drawn a moustache onto his drooling face.

It seemed that only four of the older students had passed up on the alcohol. James and Lily were entwined in an armchair in the corner of the room, clearly too intoxicated by one another to need any other stimulants. Also, Remus and Lucy had also sat together for most of the party, sharing a large plate of custard cream and laughing at each other's rubbish jokes.

'This has been one of the best days ever!' declared Victoria, sinking into the sofa, next to Sirius.

Both of them were definitely drunk, although not crazily so.

'Cheers to that,' agreed Sirius, clinking his glass against hers.

They drank in silence for a moment.

Sirius glanced across the room to where James and Lily were holding hands and gazing at each other in a way that made Victoria feel faintly sick.

'I'm glad that's finally happened,' sighed Sirius, 'They should be together.'

'Do you believe that?' asked Victoria curiously, 'Do you believe that two people are meant to be together more than they're meant to be with anyone else?'

Sirius rested his arm around the back of the sofa, so that he was practically touching Victoria's back, and regarded her with a look of surprise. 'Of course. Do you not?'

A few weeks ago, Victoria would probably have answered that she didn't. Her experience with Alex had taught her that much. It wasn't always clear what was supposed to happen between two people, and you had to explore a bit to find that out.

But now? She wasn't so sure. As she sat there with Sirius, the truth of his words struck her. Two people were supposed to be together. And at that moment, as his dark eyes looked into hers, waiting for her answer, she firmly believed that the two of them were an example of this.

'Maybe,' she conceded, 'Well yes, I suppose I do.'

Sirius smiled at her and then glanced back over to James and Lily.

'I suppose it's just a case of the two people both realizing that,' he sighed.

'Yeah,' agreed Victoria.

And because she was tipsy and tired, she leant her head onto Sirius's chest. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. And that was how they sat for a good hour or so until Remus, waving the Map in his hand, shouted that they'd all better get to bed because McGonagall was on her way.

Hope the chapter was okay!

As you can see, we're gradually getting there with Victoria and Sirius….

Thanks for the lovely comments I had for the last chapter, and please please please leave me a review

Until next time….. x