"James! Where the hell have you been? Felix has been in here twice looking for you! The match is in a few hours and you look a mess!" Sirius was on me immediately when I walked in, throwing a bathrobe and Quidditch robes into my arms and ushering me into the shower. In a hurry, I undressed and hopped in.

The cool water felt good on my skin. It washed away the grime I felt ingrained in me from my night spent on the dusty floor of the shack. I tired too to wash out the fatigue, but even as I left the blessed spray my eyelids felt heavy.

The cheers as I entered the Great Hall in my Quidditch robes would remedy that.

"Good luck, James,"

"Go get em, James,"

"Careful on that broom, James,"

"You look good in those Quidditch robes, James," one daring first year giggled. I flashed her a particularly charming smile and rumpled my hair. Her smile vanished as Sophia appeared beside me, grabbed my head and kissed me very publicly.

"That was for good luck," she said, hanging on my lips, and then sat down, cheeks flushed, hiding behind her breakfast from the wolf whistles that travelled up the table. I sat down next to her and shot unamused looks at the boys who were sniggering, silencing them at once. She gave me a grateful look.

I was so nervous my stomach was churning. I looked distastefully at the food laid out in front of me. Giving myself a few pieces of toast and buttering them slowly, I forced myself to eat. You need energy, I kept telling myself, but it was still tough not to gag. I downed it all with some pumpkin juice and stood, bidding my friends farewell, I would see them on the pitch. And so, with a stomach half full and eyes half open, I made my way over to the Quidditch pitch with dread.

By nine o'clock the stands were full of cheering students, all excited for the match. I watched nervously from my place inside the changing room, staring out. A blur of faces and hands clapped and whooped. Amid the chaos iridescent ghosts joined the festivities, bobbing up and down with enthusiasm. Even in the changing room now the atmosphere was buzzing. I looked back behind me to see my teammates, constantly high fiving each other and offering encouragement left right and center.

"Hey, Rookie, get over here," said Melissa Miller, our seeker. I joined her group and they all welcomed my by ruffling my hair or patting me on that back. "You nervous?" Melissa asked. I shook my head, putting on a brave face.

"Those Ravenclaws don't know what's coming to them," I said, confidently. Nervous as hell, I thought.

"We've got a plucky one here," said Dominic, patting me again. I smiled brightly at them all. We chatted optimisticly about the match for a few minutes before Felix entered and called the group to order.

"Alright people," he began, "first match of the season, let's make it a good one," The team roared, practically drowning out the rest of Felix's speech on plays. We knew all the plays inside out anyway.

Over the speakers, we heard the voice of Davey Gudgeon introducing the Raveclaws, and there was a thundering applause from the stadium as we watched the Ravenclaw team fly out into the stadium in skillful synchronicity. The tumbled and twirled into a line, facing our changing room. Waiting for us.

"And now, GRYFFINDOR!" yelled Davey, at which point we all charged out of the changing rooms and kicked high into the air, in a V formation with Felix at our head. We did a lap around the stadium and each of us branched out, corkscrewing downwards towards the middle and shooting back up again, in the middle of the stadium, where we were all in a circle facing inwards. Felix winked, and we all shot out in an impressive spectacle of backwards flying. The ends of our circle broke and spread so we were in a line, facing the Ravenclaws. Around us, the crowd exploded into applause.

We all reached out and shook hands before assuming out positions, and the air stilled as Sir Areoson brought the whistle to his lips and blew.

Elise cuaght the Quaffle and threw it immediately to me. Suddenly overwhelmed by all the people watching and the noise, I fumbled and it fell from my hands into those of the Ravenclaw chaser underneath me, who shot towards the goalposts. I snapped out of it and dove after her in persuit.

"What the hell, James?" asked Felix, narrowly catching a bludger that was going right for my head.

"Sorry!" I said, concentrating on the Ravenclaw chaser. But it was too late.

"...And the first goal of the match goes to Ravenclaw! An amazing shot by the Ravenclaw chaser Celestina Humphrey, Bella Spruce gutted she let that one in..."

That one was on me. I was determined I wouldn't miss another.

Again, Sir Aeroson blew the whistle and we started off again, this time the Ravenclaws catching the Quaffle.

"Mike! Mike, double up!" I yelled, and the two of us shot after her, each taking a we were both at her sides and she was reasonably uncomfortable, Michael sped forward and stopped right in front of her while I dropped beneath. Stunned, she dropped the ball into my expectant fingertips in some ironic twist of what she had just done to me, and I swung around and headed towards the goalposts.

Noticing a bludger coming right at me, I threw the Quaffle agilely to Elise, who caught it and threw it back. In a single, lythe movement I threw the Quaffle again, right towards the Ravenclaw goalpost...

"...SCORE! And Gryffindor are right back in the game, ten all with a stunning play from the youngest and newest addition to the team, James Potter..." I heard Peter shrieking from the stands and smiled.

The next three goals were mine, mine and mine. The atmosphere was electric as Gryffindor began to pull ahead of the game. I swooped down to take my next shot when WHAM, a bludger came at me hard and fast and knocked the Quaffle from my hands, crunching all the bones in my finger.

"James, are you Ok?" asked Michael, flying up beside me. I wasn't Ok. I was tired and nervous and my hand hurt like hell. The sickening chrunch it had made kept repeating in my head. I heard it again and again.

"...And that's another goal for Ravenclaw, bringing them to a score of twenty-fourty, Gryffindor had better watch out because Ravenclaw are hot on their tails..."

I stared at my limp hand that I had been crardling. Without me, Ravenclaw were sure to win.

"I'm fine, Mike. Don't worry about it," I said, trying to ignore the pain and wielding my broom back around to get back to our starting positions.

Despite the pain, I would not let Ravenclaw win this match. I swept right in the minute the whistle was blown and the Quaffle was in my grasp. I made a few haphazard passes to and from Elise before clumsily throwing the Quaffle through the goalpost, it grazing the Ravenclaw keeper's fingertips, but still falling through.

Wincing against the pain, I relied on adrenaline for the best part of the remaining match, hoping it would numb the aching just enough for me to keep scoring. Which I did, I scored again and again, biting the insides of my cheeks to keep myself from yelling and giving myself away. I looked into the stands for some kind of support and there I found it. My antidote.

Smiling and waving from her place, perfectly situated amongst the red and yellow sat a head of deep red hair and flushed red cheeks. Lily waved at me from the stands, screaming at the top of her lungs. Suddenly, her voice, along with the voices of all the others muted and time slowed a fraction just to let me look at her. Our eyes locked and I felt my heart flare. That was the only thing I felt. There was no pain in my hand, there was only me and Lily.

And from then on everything was easier. Time stayed slow, but gave me speed. I deftly ducked between attempts from the defending team as my mind focused on Lily and I expertly shot goal after goal before.

"STOP! There we have it folks, the Ravenclaw Seeker, Mr Roderick Sewell emerges from the grass with a snitch raised proudly in his hands..." The crowd on the Ravenclaw side cheered riotously as we landed on the ground, my knees weak, the feeling flooding back into my hand. I was suddenly more exhausted than I had ever felt in my whole life, and nauseous, oh so nauseous. I peekd at my left hand cradled in my arms to see it was a deep, angry purple. And all that for nothing. Unless...

There was a moment of confusion as cogs began to turn in the minds of everyone in the stadium, and then, Davey's voice came back over the speakers.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, despite Sewell's amazing effort on the pitch today, that leaves Ravenclaw with a score of one hundred and seventy," there was a stirring from the Gryffindor side of the stadium, "...which, yes, you've all guessed it, is less that Gryffindor's two hundred and thirty points. GRYFFINDOR WINS!"

My moment of elation was short lived, but the few minutes I had were truly the best of my existence. Except, perhaps, the back of my mind kept telling me, that hug from Lily Evans last Christmas. Nonetheless, this was a close second. I was hoisted onto the shoulders of Felix and Dominic, who paraded me around the entire length of the Quidditch pitch. The rest of the Gryffindors swarmed around us as I was congratulated far above anybody else. I even had a thumbs up from McGonagall, or at least I thought I did. Everything swam in front of me and vomit rose in my throat. My stomach churned uncomfortably and from my hand pain pulsed right up to my shoulders.

And then it all went black.

I awoke in the company of Madam Pomfrey, who was holding some Peruvian Potent Perfumes under my nose and causing me to sneeze, which sent a horrible shock down the length of my arm.

"Nasty break there, that one. You should have come to me right when it happened. Got so bad I had to put a bit of Skele-Gro in you," she said, bustling around my bed. "You've been out for much too long for a boy who hurt his hand, though. The secret to a good game, Mr Potter, is a good night's sleep."

"I couldn't sleep, I had some business to attend to last night. Down by the Whomping Willow."

Madam Pomfrey cocked an eyebrow. "It is not advisable, Mr Potter, to tell a teacher when you have been breaking the school rules and being out of bed when you weren't allowed." she said, disapprovingly. Then, she leaned in close so that none of the other invalids could hear, "But I'm glad that that boy has a friend." She said, and winked.

I laid back in bed and felt the pain from the awful Skele-Gro shooting through my arms. But it was all worth it. We won.

A/N: I did very much consider James losing this match but I thought his stubborness earned him a win, plus that hand's gonna hurt for a while. This was a really fun chapter to write so please Review it and tell me what you think (even if what you think is that I shouldn't write any more Quidditch matches coz i suck at them).