James woke up with a jolt. Quidditch practice. He was late for Quidditch practice. Slapping his glasses on his face, he got up in one smooth movement, suddenly very awake. He swiftly put on the first robe he laid his hand on, stuck his wand in his unruly hair and sprinted across the room, past Peter's closed curtains, to get his broom from his trunk.
Alice was going to kill him, he had been late to every single practice since the beginning of the year, mostly because of detentions, but also from oversleeping. Pausing in front of Sirius and Remus' empty beds, he wondered why his friends didn't wake him up before leaving for breakfast. Half a second later, he decided that none of that would matter if his team actually killed him and started running as if his life depended on it.
He arrived panting on the pitch five minutes later. His team was already up in the air, but stationing in a circle around the captain, Alice. He kicked the ground and as his broom elevated in the air he tried to integrate the circle silently. But trying to not being noticed was going against his very nature so he was not surprised when he failed.
"Oh how nice of you to finally grace us with your presence Potter," said Alice with a smile while throwing the quaffle directly towards his face.
James caught it at the last possible second and snorted.
"You wankers can't do anything without me."
Alice laughed and adjusted her bun while the others grunted around them.
"You know, I would hex you if you weren't so right. Alvarez, McKinnon, I'm sorry to say but you need to step up your game. If even this hard-head can score five goals a game, you can too. Oh and by the way Herby, I meant to talk to you about some new seeker techniques my cousin told me about."
Glad to have somewhat gotten away with oversleeping, James beamed at his team, who all returned his smile. They all loved him and he loved them. Alice was strict and demanding, and he was the perfect balance to her, making jokes when he felt like the team was too tense, or pretending to sleep on his broom when practice was too slow. However seriously he took Quidditch, it was always necessary for him to keep it associated with light-hearted fun.
They were to play against Slytherin the following weekend and Alice was very obviously agitated. Still in the centre of the group, she was talking really fast and with a lot of hand gestures.
"Ravenclaw won their game against Hufflepuff two hundred to forty, which means they are better than last year because the Hufflepuff's team is really good, so we need to not only beat Slytherin next week, we need to beat them with a margin, in order to..."
"How about we play instead of freezing on our brooms?" said James loudly, throwing the quaffle back to her.
It was a sunny Sunday morning and although no clouds were to be seen, the cold November air was stinging. James rubbed his hands together and blew hot air on them while making puppy eyes to Alice.
"Merlin Potter, you know I can't stand you when you make that stupid face. Come on people, let's go! To your positions, let's get warmed up!"
James smiled as he shot upwards. Flying felt so good. It was like his natural element, and the broom was just an extension of his body. He took a few seconds to loop around and practice sharp turns, feeling the wind on his face and in his hair, and he laughed like an idiot. It was as if he had left all of his problems on the ground before taking off. He felt so much lighter.
Getting his head back in the game, he dived to the ground and caught the quaffle Alvarez had dropped, before shooting back upwards, zigzagging between the other chasers and scoring in the back a confused keeper.
Alice looked a mix of proud and exasperated.
"Potter! Don't forget you have teammates please!"
"I have what now?"
Alice rolled her eyes and threw her hands in the air, seemingly giving up in ever teaching him anything. James laughed and looped to celebrate his goal.
Half an hour later, as James was chasing one of the beaters around the pitch for throwing a bludger too close to him, he noticed Sirius and Remus getting settled in the stands. He waved at them enthusiastically and Remus waved back while Sirius answered with a rude gesture and a smile.
Certain things would always be the same.
They were quickly rejoined by Peter, who still had bed hair and squinted in the sun. The three boys had their fun booing James anytime he passed by them, and cheering and clapping all the other players.
James got them back by throwing the quaffle to them as hard as he could, missing the top of Peter's head by barely an inch. The quaffle was picked up by Lily, who he hadn't noticed, sat behind the boys with her blonde friend. She was probably here to cheer on Marlene, but James only saw this as an opportunity to show off.
He hoovered over her as she held out the quaffle for him and their fingers touched when he took it from her. James tried not to think about the shiver running down his spine.
"Thank you Evans," he said softly, avoiding her beautiful green eyes.
"You're quite welcome Potter, but aim better next time."
"I promise."
Peter, Remus and Sirius whistled and catcalled him as he returned to the centre of the pitch but he paid no attention to them. Lily was here, he had to behave. Be exemplary but exceptional.
"Next time make sure your flirting session doesn't interfere with our flying schedule," said Alice mockingly, taking the quaffle back from him.
James frowned and felt himself blush. The stands were too far away for the spectators to have heard the comment, but Marlene definitely had and was giggling to herself. There was no doubt she was going to tell Lily about what Alice had said.
"Flirting? Please, it's called pure charisma and natural charm. Makes all the ladies faint."
"Alright ladies-man, put the charisma away and take out flying skill, I'm trying to lead a team here."
"Ay Captain."
Using the sound his friends made as an excuse to turn to the stands, he watched Lily tuck a strand of her red wavy hair behind her ear, and he decided today was the day he would impress her.
He took up a little speed and a little height, and, using the technique Alice had been so desperate for him to try, he dived straight down to Alvarez, taking the quaffle from his hands effortlessly, and aimed for the hooped goal the furthest from him. Not expecting it, the keeper had precipitated towards the other goal, and he scored easily.
"I gotta say Potter, maybe Evans should come see practice more often, if it's what it takes for you to learn discipline."
"Shut it Alice."
"Ay Captain."
Risking a glance in Lily's direction, James saw her talking and laughing with Remus without paying any attention to what was going on in the pitch. His shoulders dropped in disappointment. But then he ruffled up his hair unconsciously and told himself that it was okay, that he could do that again and he could do it even better.
He started trailing Marlene, who was holding the quaffle, copying each of her movements with fluidity, then flying below her before spiking up, cutting her trajectory. Startled, Marlene dropped the quaffle to grab her broom in an attempt to avoid crashing into James, who was already gone and plunging towards the ball at high speed. Holding out his arms in front of him and just using his legs to maintain himself on his broom, he managed to catch the quaffle just before it hit the ground.
However, what had completely slipped off his mind was slowing down. He crashed into the lawn face first, having just enough lucidity to slightly tilt his expensive broom to the left, saving it from completely breaking apart on the ground.
He hadn't manage to save his nose though. He had heard it crack distinctively, and he could feel his own warm blood running down his face and neck.
Looking up at the stands, he saw with a bit of a flutter in his stomach that Lily had stood up and was grasping at Remus' shoulder with a terrified look on her face. The Marauders didn't look proud either, Peter was covering his eyes, refusing to look down, and Sirius, forgetting all dignity, was covering his open mouth with both of his hands.
James took upon himself to reassure them all, by pressing his hands on his nose, covering them with blood, then holding them out for them all to see.
"RED FOR GRYFFINDOR!"
Alice landed roughly next to him.
"Potter you're a bloody idiot. I take back what I said, I don't want Evans here ever again because you're gonna get yourself killed by trying too hard to be noticed one day."
James grinned at her, unfazed. He had nothing smart to answer to her, but he didn't care. Lily had been worried about him. Nothing could bring down his mood now.
"Tergeo," said Alice with a flick of her wand, cleaning off the blood from James' hands and face.
"Hey that's such a useful spell, how did you.."
"Episkey."
James felt his broken nose move under his skin, and repair itself painlessly.
"Oh I know that one well, ain't the first time someone's used it on me, I should probably learn it for myself."
"Probably," shrugged Alice. "I won't always be there to pick you up when you fall flat in front of Evans."
"How did you learn how to do this anyway?"
"I wanted to be a Healer until fifth year," she said, before anticipating James' second question and pointing his wand towards him. "Now I want to be an Auror, so I know a lot more harmful spells, in case you were planning on opening your mouth again. Now piss off to Madame Pomfrey before I hex you for ruining everyone's practice."
"Love you too Alice!" James smiled, blowing a kiss in her direction as she mounted her broom and flew back to the team.
His friends were already waiting for him in the changing room and erupted in cheers and applause as soon as he walked through the door.
"Well done!"
"What a wonderful move, you'll have to teach me this summer!"
Remus ruffled up James' hair with affection, and Peter and Sirius high-fived him. James bowed to his admirers.
"I did what anyone would have done for a pretty girl."
"False," snorted Sirius. "You're the only one dumb enough to try breaking all the bones in your body for Evans."
"Thank you, thank you," said James, bowing once again.
The boys sat on the benches around the room while James changed. Sharing a dorm room with them meant they had already seen him naked more times than he could count, so he didn't mind it.
"What were you and Lily talking about, Moony?"
Remus held out his hand, looking at his nails nonchalantly, in a very Sirius like manner.
"Oh nothing very interesting, she just wanted to know if there was something between you and the team captain."
James froze, balancing on one feet, trying to fit the other one into his shoe.
"She WHAT?"
"So I told her that nothing was going on at the moment but that you were definitely interested in Alice."
"YOU WHAT?"