-CHAPTER NINE-

As the month of November rolled in, the weather itself became colder. The mountains around them became icy grey and the lake was chilled steel. Almost every morning the ground was covered with frost and the students would moan if they have classes at the greenhouse.

The Quidditch season had begun which made the players and the crowd be very anticipated towards the match. Especially Albus.

Although he had seen James playing, having this match is nothing compared to the practice. This match would be filled with screams of ecstatic shouts and the players feeling the adrenaline rush.

As the student body started to wake up, the castle was booming with excitement and the houses' dormitory was filled with exciting chattering. While this commotion went on, one did not joined the conversations. That person happened to be still in bed, all snuggled in his warm blankets, trapping the warmth so that it could warm him from this cold weather.

Albus, with closed eyes, snuggled almost deeply into his blankets so that he was covered almost completely; his head was the only thing that was visible.

Unknowingly, the boy started to roll around as though to try to find the best spot on the bed. It because he was moving around a lot, he started to roll towards the edge and it was then where a loud thunk was heard followed by a muffled groan.

Naturally, this noise woke his roommate, Danny who grunted.

"Albus...do you mind? Some of us are trying to..." and then came Danny's snore.

Frowning, Albus clumsily climbed back to bed with his covers still being around him. He closed his eyes again, trying to get some shut eye but it was futile.

Frustrated, Albus began to untangle from the blankets but found himself in a fight with them.

Because of all the shuffling, this irritated Danny and with a grumble of "oh for pete's sake!", he shoved his covers away and angrily marched towards Albus.

He dumbly stared at his friend, wondering why he was making such a huge fight with them when he could simply roll off.

Shrugging, Danny saw a loose end and with a smirk, he grabbed the edge of the cover and with a strong pull, he yanked the covers away which made Albus roll off the bed once more, earning yet another thud.

"Was that necessary?" Albus groaned.

"Yes. And now because of you, I can't go back to sleep." he muttered, angrily and yawned.

Albus rolled his eyes. "What a tragedy." he drawled.

Danny scowled.

"Now get move on." his suddenly broke into a grin. "It's Quidditch!"

Albus blankly stared at his friend before he widened his eyes, letting out a gasp.

"Quidditch!" he cried out, scrambling to his feet and started to change his clothes.

"Welcome to reality." Danny rolled his eyes.

After quickly getting into his clothes, Albus rushed down the stairs. If Gryffindor wins this match against Ravenclaw, they would be in second place.

"Albus, wait up!" his friend cried out, chasing after him.

The minute Albus had joined the Great Hall, he noticed that it was really loud and nosy. The sea of students was chattering about Quidditch, no doubt about it. He scanned the Gryffindor table and his eyes sparkled with delight when he spotted his brother, James talking among his fellow classmates and his friends.

If Albus guessed it, he would've thought that James was boasting about his position and how he was the best and how he would catch the Snitch in less than the ending game time. And for that, Albus rolled his eyes as he walked down the path to reach his brother.

"…and I obviously can catch the Snitch under the time limit." James replied, bitterly scowling at one of his friends. A shadow loomed over him and he glanced from behind, his eyes shining with recognition.

"Oh! Hello, Albus! How are you today?"

Albus shrugged. "Fine, I guess. But good luck today!"

"Thanks! See, I was just telling my idiot of a friend that I am able to catch the Snitch under the time limit. But he," he glared at his smirking friend. "Refuses to believe that."

"Oh, believe him really." Albus started. "He's quite good. He even beat Rose once when we were practicing during Summer. He got the Snitch just under four minutes when the time limit was ten."

James beamed.

Reid smirked. "He's only defending you because he's your brother and he feels pity towards you." he laughed which made the two brothers glare.

"Jerk." James muttered. "Sometimes I wonder why I didn't abandon you from the start."

Reid shrugged. "Hey, I love you too."

A few seconds later, Albus noticed that both of the Hood twins were waltzing toward James and they look terribly pleased about something which made Albus be a little nervous about them.

"Hey, Potter. We couldn't help but to hear you boasting about how you can catch the Snitch under the time limit." one of the Hood twins responded.

The other grinned, widely. "Yeah. I mean if you're all that good, we expect to win at the right time. Know what I'm saying? You better catch that Snitch!"

And suddenly James felt himself cowering from behind the two twins.

Reid chuckled. "It's not good to boast." he sang-song once the twins were out of sight.

"Oh, shut up Reid!"

As expected, the Gryffindor common room was very noisy that evening. Albus, Rose, Avery and Danny sat together next to a window. Rose and Avery were checking over Albus's and Danny's Charms homework for them. Naturally, they got the right answers anyway but they still insisted that they should check over them anyways.

As they moved on to the next assignment, Rose couldn't help but to stare at Albus who seemed restless and out of focused.

"Albus, what's up? You're usually concentrated."

"It's Quidditch. James's playing—he's the Seeker. I can't help but to think that he's going to get himself killed if he does something stupid." Albus mumbled, making Rose smile.

"Aww, little brother cares for the big brother! How cute." she giggled after Albus glared at her.

"Zip it, Rose! I'm being serious! You know how James is!" he cried out.

The frown automatically etched into Rose's face. "Yeah…" she muttered, recalling the flashback about how he had placed a dead spider on her bed and she woke up, screaming the next day. It had taken three days for her to forgive James.

Danny simply waved his hand. "Don't worry about it. We've seen him practicing. He's golden."

Albus absent-mindedly nodded. "Yeah…yeah, I suppose."

But Quidditch was also not the only thing on his mind. It was that hall. The forbidden one. He still couldn't help but to think that there was something else lurking inside the hall…

The next morning dawned very bright and cold. The Great Hall was full of the delicious smell of fried sausages and the cheerful chatter of everyone looking forward to a good Quidditch match.

Everyone who was passing the Gryffindor table kept on saying "Good luck" or "You'll win this" to James who took every compliments.

Even from the girls which made Albus roll his eyes.

The young boy eyed the person that was waltzing from the entrance. Albus instantly recognized that he was the Captain of the Gryffindor team. That being said, he just now noticed James stuffing the eggs into his mouth in a hurry. He guessed that the Captain wanted some more practicing before the real game.

By eleven o'clock, the whole school seemed to be out in the stands around the Quidditch pitch. Many students had binoculars even the seats were raised high in the air but it was still very difficult to see what was going on sometimes.

After what it seemed an hour—even though it was only half an hour, Albus made a mental note to ask his dad how long were the "encouragement of speeches"—the teams, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw got out of the entrance; each side cheered for their respective teams.

Madam Zenaida was the refereeing. She stood in the middle of the pitch, waiting for the two teams, her broom in her hand.

"Now, I want a nice clean game from all of you." she said, once they had gathered around her.

James and the Ravenclaw Seeker, Dean glared at each other nastily since they were quite known to be nasty if they had to; the Hood Twins and the Ravenclaws' own Beaters also shared the same glare.

"Mount your brooms, please."

Everyone did.

Madam Zenaida blew the whistle loudly, indicating that the game had begun.

"And the game begins!" the commenter exclaimed. "The Quaffle is immediately taken by the beautiful Calista—what an excellent chaser that girl is! Hey, Calista! Mind going out on a date with me? I'm only joking, professor!"

Albus grinned as he recognized who that was. Darren Warner—one of James's best friends who was being closely watched by Professor Longbottom.

"And she's really speeding along up there, a neat pass to Katy Williams, a good find to the Gryffindor's Captain—Noah Smith (there was rather a large cheer from the Gryffindor side), back to Calista and—no, Ravenclaw have taken the Quaffle, Ravenclaw Captain Aaron Harper."

This made the crowd cheer for the Captain—many of them were girls.

"How can anyone stand him is beyond—I mean, just look at him. Who wants to have a guy that has mushroom for a hair?"

"DARREN!" Longbottom boomed.

"I'm joking! So after the not so handsome—Darren!—after the most unattractive—"

"DARREN, I'M WARNING YOU!"

Many of the females were glaring at him.

"Alright! After the Ravenclaw's Captain took the Quaffle, he zooms towards our beloved Gryffindor Goalie—he's going to sc—no! He's been stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Smith—Way to go! And Gryffindor takes the Quaffle—that's Chaser Christina Scotland of Gryffindor there, nice slide around Aaron, off up the field and—OUCH—that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger—Quaffle taken by Ravenclaw—that's Ace Quinn racing towards the goal posts, but he's blocked by a second Bludger—sent his way by one of the Hood Twins—I really can't tell which one is which, my apologies. Nice play by the Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Calista back in possession of the Quaffle, clear field ahead and off she goes like a rocket—she's really flying—dodges a speeding Bludger—nasty little buggers—the goal posts are ahead—come on, now, no pressure—Keeper Harper dives—misses—GRYFFINDOR SCORES!" he exclaimed.

Gryffindor cheers filled the cold air, with howls and moans coming from the Ravenclaws.

Albus grabbed the binoculars from Danny and he stared into the distance, scanning for James and there he was, floating in the air on his broomstick, waiting for the Snitch. He frowned.

"There's still no Snitch." Albus announced, disappointed.

Rose made a peculiar look. "Don't worry; he will get it."

"Move along, 'here." a booming voice came followed by shuffles.

Albus glanced to the side before he turned his head around to see a giant person coming his way; his grin widened once he saw who it was.

"Hi, Hagrid!" he exclaimed.

"'ello, there Albus! How yer doing? Any signs of the Snitch?"

Albus shook his head. "No; James's still waiting for it to show up."

"Add that to the fact that he had made a bet with his friend, Reid about getting the Snitch under the time limit." Danny added.

Hagrid gave an exasperated sigh. "James was always the foolish one…" he muttered.

"I think James is starting to become a bit bored of waiting." Avery pointed it out as she watched the Gryffindor's Seeker doing loops as Calista scored.

"Ravenclaw took the possession of the Quaffle again," Darren continued, keeping the large audience updated. "Chaser Quinn ducks two Bludgers, two Hood and Chaser Scotland and speeds towards the—wait a moment, was that the Snitch?"

The crowd started to murmur and suddenly cheered with excitement when they saw the two Seekers rushing past by them. With the rush of adrenaline, James dived down, following the golden ball's movements. Ravenclaw Seeker Aidan Achilles had seen it too which made James speed faster in attempt to grab the golden streak. It was all too fast for the audience, not being able to tell who was first in line but it seems as though that the two were neck to neck, eyes set on the golden object.

Albus leaned in closer, his eyes seemed as though were glued to the binoculars, capturing his brother's patterns. He was the first in line and faster than Achilles. James followed the Snitch, its wings fluttering, darting up ahead—leaning closer towards his broom to put extra speed.

WHAM! One of the Bludgers had struck James at the side and he would've fallen to the ground below if James hadn't grabbed his handle in time. Gryffindor "ooed" at the side as Albus drew in a sharp breath at the close call.

He would like it if his brother could live, thanks and he was sure he would have broken ribs.

"So—after the disgusting and the painful—"

"Darren!" growled Professor Longbottom.

"Sorry, after the revolting hit—"

"Darren, I'm warning you—"

"Alright, alright. The bludger had nearly taken out the Gryffindor Seeker—pretty sure he would have broken ribs which I'm sure Madame Pomfrey would love to fix—and we continue to play, Gryffindor still in possession."

It was James who dodged another Bludger—he really didn't wanted another one; his side was already aching badly. Darren was still commenting.

"Ravenclaw in possession—Aaron with the Quaffle—passes Santiago—passes Scotland—there's Harper; hope one of the Bludgers hit him in the face—only joking, Professor—Ravenclaw scored—oh no."

Ravenclaw cheered.

"But all hope is not lost! James is zig-zagging like mad trying to get the Snitch before the other Seeker does! GO JAMES!" Warner cheered through the microphone.

James zig-zagged all over the stadium, following the stubborn Snitch's movements. He extended his arm out but then, the Snitch suddenly took a sharp turn towards the ground and James followed it nonetheless even though it took him off-guard for a bit. Eyes narrowed, the Ravenclaw Seeker leaned in closer to get more speed so that he could catch up to Potter. But being quicker, James slowly got on the top of the handle with eyes set on the Snitch.

When the time was right, he threw himself up at the front and grabbed the Snitch. James roughly stumbled to the ground before he finally toppled to the ground, sprawled.

Everyone held their breaths and Darren widened his eyes, gasping through the microphone when he noticed something shiny in James's hand. He quickly grabbed the microphone and practically screamed into it.

"JAMES POTTER CAUGHT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS!"

There was a loud booming cheers from the Gryffindor stand. The oldest Potter clumsily stumbled up and showed the defeated Snitch. Within the cheers, Warner shouted out the final results—Gryffindor had won by one hundred and seventy points to seventy.

Albus and his friends screamed with delight.

"WE WON! WE WON!" Danny screamed.

"Gryffindor is going in second place!" Albus exclaimed.

Author's Note: Tadaa! Gryffindor won by having James throwing himself forward to grab the Snitch…moving on. But they won! Yeah! The Captain is obviously happy about it XD What happens next? Find out!