"It won't matter," Michael Kirke said, "considering how badly we beat Ravenclaw."
"But the Slytherin game was close," Eleanor Peakes insisted. "And Hufflepuff killed both of them."
It wasn't a new argument. Actually, it was pretty much all that the Gryffindor Quidditch team had talked about, ever since Hufflepuff had beat Ravenclaw two hundred and forty to fifty. Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were now tied for the Quidditch Cup. It all hinged on the next game.
James was concerned about the match – extremely concerned, as a matter of fact – but he was trying not to think about it right then. He was trying to be a good friend. Still, it was very hard to focus on something as boring as studying when he could hear a very important Quidditch conversation taking place only a few feet away.
"What else, Peter?" he asked patiently.
"Um," said Peter, scrunching his face in concentration. "Knotgrass?" James nodded. "Porcupine quills?"
James rolled his eyes. "No. No porcupine quills. That would probably make the potion explode."
"Cool," said Sirius, who was staring into space and twirling his wand idly through his fingers. Remus, who was busy reading his Potions textbook, didn't even waste a reproving glance at him.
"Come on, Peter. We've been over this a million times." It took all of his self-control to keep the exasperation out of his voice. Studying for exams was not his favorite activity. Not when there was a Qudditch match to practise for, a map to perfect, and an Animagus spell to find. It was made worse by the fact that James didn't really think he needed to study. However, he had promised not to neglect his friends for Quidditch, and he knew that Peter needed to study. McGonagall had all but promised that Polyjuice Potion would come up on the exam.
"How many am I forgetting?" asked Peter.
"Two."
"Leeches?" James nodded again.
"Good. One more. Come on, Peter, this one is obvious!"
As Peter was thinking, James saw a sudden motion as Michael Kirke leapt to his feet and shot away from the table where he had been sitting. He nearly knocked James over as he rushed past him.
"Oof!" James grunted as Michael's elbow hit him between the shoulder blades. "Hey, watch it, Mike!" he called out, but Michael didn't seem to even hear him. James stifled a laugh as he saw what the hurry was.
"Hey, Aurora," he heard Michael say casually as he skidded to a stop in front of Aurora Sawbridge.
"Oh! Something from the person you want to turn into!" exclaimed Peter triumphantly, drawing James back into the conversation.
"Right," said James, closing the book with relief. Surely Remus would agree that they had done enough studying for the evening. It felt like they'd been going at it for hours.
"You done?" Eleanor asked, plopping into the seat next to him. "Good," she said before James could respond. "I want to talk about strategy for the Hufflepuff game. I was talking to Michael," she said, glaring across the room, "but he got – er – distracted."
James snickered. "I saw. He nearly knocked the wind out of me getting over there." His teammate had all but stalked the exceptionally beautiful fifth-year redhead for the past few weeks. He'd actually gotten in trouble twice for being late to practice because he was busy talking to her.
"Poor guy," said Eleanor, making a face that was half pitying, half disgusted. "She's going to chop him to pieces, I bet."
"I dunno," said James, leaning back in his chair. "She seems interested."
"Who seems interested in who?" a voice asked from behind him, and he groaned inwardly.
"Go away, Evans." He had said the words so many times that they came automatically now.
"We're just curious," Florence Flume said with a sniff. The two girls were sitting behind them, apparently eavesdropping.
Evans turned pointedly to Eleanor, ignoring James. "Who's interested in who?"
"You're not curious. You're nosy," James interrupted before Eleanor could speak. "Go away."
"Oooh!" Florence exclaimed, following Eleanor's gaze to Michael and Aurora. "Are they going out?"
Next to James, Sirius banged his head on the table. "We've been invaded by girls," he muttered into his pile of unopened textbooks.
"We tolerate all of your girlfriends," Remus said, a half-smile playing on his lips. "It's only fair that we tolerate all of James's too."
James turned pink and glared at him, but Remus's comment did the trick. Florence and Evans resumed their own conversation, rather huffily.
"Charming friends," said Eleanor, looking amused. "Anyway, back to business: Hufflepuff."
"So what did your mum have to say?" Peter asked. James had just tucked the letter into his bag trying to look normal, but apparently he wasn't doing a great job of it. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah," said James. "Everything's fine."
It wasn't exactly a lie. The letter had been normal in most ways. Little anecdotes about the past week, some stories about work, and a few tidbits of news about some family friends. Nothing at all out of the ordinary, except for the postscript.
P.S. If you'd like, you may invite Peter and Remus to stay the whole summer this year. Sirius is obviously welcome too, but since he's a pureblood, he might not think it necessary. It's all nonsense, of course, this pureblood mania that's going around right now. The whole idea that some are worthier than others is absolutely appalling. Still, we want your friends to be safe. I'm sure they'll be fine regardless, but I'm a mother, and mothers worry. We'd love to have them if they want to come.
There had been whisperings and murmurings of Voldemort, but no real solid news since James had returned to school. His letters from home hadn't mentioned him at all. Even in this letter, Voldemort wasn't mentioned by name, but James was able to read the not-too-subtle message between the lines. He would invite Peter and Remus; he just needed to figure out a way to do it that wouldn't scare them.
"But we're better than Hufflepuff!"
The same conversation. Again. James thought his head was going to explode. It was only two days until the game, and James was almost sick with nerves. The Quidditch Cup. How cool would that be?
"We can't be overconfident! That could cost us the match!"
"We aren't overconfident," Susan Bagshot said. "Calm down, Eleanor. It's just that we are the better team – we need to go into this knowing we can win!"
Beside James, Eleanor let out a groan that could mean anything from frustration to despair to fear. It was hard to tell. James patted her comfortingly on the back, but didn't say anything. He was feeling the same way he had before the first match. He was just the rookie, the one who didn't know what he was doing.
It was only after a long practice and nearly an hour of anxious arguing that the team finally began to make their way back to the castle. James walked with Michael and Evan Cauldwell, one of the team's Beaters. They spent the first part of the trek rehashing the arguments in a half-heartedly exhausted sort of way before Evan steered the conversation in a slightly different direction.
"You going to be able to keep your head in the game, Kirke?" he asked. His tone was curious and slightly worried, but not malicious.
"What do you mean?" Michael asked, blushing a little bit.
"I mean, are you going to be thinking about the game, or are you going to be thinking about showing off for your girlfriend?" Evan grinned and Michael laughed.
"She's not my girlfriend," he said, almost as an afterthought.
Evan shrugged. "Close enough."
"What about you?" Michael asked. James suspected he was trying to direct the conversation away from himself. It took him a moment to realize that Michael was speaking to him, not Evan.
"What? Me?" he said, startled. "I don't have a girlfriend."
To his surprise, his teammates smirked, as though they didn't believe him. But he didn't have a girlfriend! He'd had exactly one girlfriend before: a disaster named Emma Dodderidge. And that had been second year. He'd pretty much avoided girls this year, mostly because he just didn't have time for them.
Michael and Evan were still smirking. James was very confused.
One hundred and seventy to twenty. A four hour game, and only four goals scored. Incredible defense on both sides. As close as a Quidditch game could possibly be, really. A perfect tie before the Snitch was caught.
One hundred and seventy to twenty.
And Gryffindor lost.
"We had a good season," Michael said dully, without any conviction. The team was sitting around a table in the nearly-empty common room; the other Gryffindors were giving the depressed team their space. They'd been sitting there for nearly two hours, hardly talking. No one responded to Michael's comment.
James felt absolutely awful. They'd lost. He'd made a dozen shots, and Hufflepuff's Keeper had blocked every single one of them. The last game of the year, his first losing game, and he hadn't scored once.
He knew he should sneak out and go to the library; he'd been so busy practising for the game that he hadn't done any Animagus research in two weeks. But as his teammates drifted one at a time away from the table and off to bed, he just couldn't muster up the motivation.
"We'll win it next year," Eleanor said as they watched Susan walk away. "Cheer up."
"You're not exactly a ray of sunshine either," he told her darkly, and she shrugged, looking thoroughly miserable. James yawned and stood up, promising himself he'd go to the library tomorrow.
"Goodnight, Eleanor," he said, leaving her sitting alone at the table. He trudged upstairs, knowing he would spend most of the night awake, reliving his defeat.
Author's Note: Uh... oops. Sorry guys. I know I kind of vanished. I have a long list of excuses, at least half of which are totally valid and acceptable. The good news is that time off can have a positive influence and provide some new perspective. I was able to come back to the story and rework the outline, and I feel much better about it now. Truth be told, one of the reasons I didn't make more of an effort to update before now was because I was frustrated and annoyed with the damn thing. Now I feel much better about it. :) Life continues to be crazy, of course, but hopefully I'll be able to get the next update up a little faster this time.
Thank you to my beta, confusedknight, and thank you to everyone who cared enough to harass me for an update.
