James was happy to see lily returning to normal. It had only been a couple weeks since her dad had died but she had taken some time by herself and was learning to smile again. Today was the day of the first quidditch match of the year. They were playing ravenclaw and james thought they had a good chance to win. Ravenclaw was usually good, but their team this year was a little off. Truth was, it could still be anyone's game because although almost the entirety of the gryffindor team was better, ravenclaw had the better seeker.
James had just left breakfast in the great hall and was walking into the equipment room by the quidditch pitch. Most of the team was already there.
"You guys nervous?" james asked as he began to grab his padding off the shelves. About half the team was playing a match for their first time today. James's question was met with nods all around.
"Don't worry," he gave them a smile "you'll do great. I have faith in all of you." it was a cheesy thing to say, but based on their faces it helped.
"What if we lose?" asked jordan, the keeper
"We won't loose." james grabbed his broom off the wall
"But what if we do?"
"Then you'll all know what to do better next season." he smiled again but the thought that he was leaving the quidditch team after this season, and they very well could lose this match made him nostalgic and actually quite sad.
"But you won't be here next season." lisa piped up from the back of the room.
"No. i won't." he agreed "so make me proud today." they looked at him unimpressed.
"We'll miss you." lisa added sadly.
"I'll miss you all, too." james looked at his team nodding all around the room. "But come on, We haven't lost yet! Let's get out there and make ravenclaw cry!"
…[...[]...]...
It was a pretty close match. Right now gryffindor was winning sixty to forty. Thank god for lisa. James had seen her knock bludgers away from pretty much every other team member, and had once sent one flying back towards the ravenclaw team so hard it knocked two of their players off their brooms at once. She was an extremely short little thing, but you should definitely not underestimate her. She was a pure powerhouse.
James flew across the field, leaning down low on his broom to gain more speed. Julie smithton from ravenclaw had the quaffle and she was about to throw it towards the gryffindor hoop. James flew off to the side and turned around, speeding in between julie and the hoop. She threw it and james leaned even further over, trying to go fast enough to intercept it. he reached out, trying to catch it. Just a little further… he reached out more and grabbed it, nearly falling off his broom in the process. Half the crowd cheered and the other half booed. Either way there was a lot of noise.
"James potter intercepts the quaffle. Maybe he should have been a keeper after all!" the commentator, Dorsal Lewis said as his voice echoed over the field.
"The question is, has anybody spotted the snitch yet?" the question piked his curiosity and james glanced around the field. He actually spotted the snitch fluttering beneath the ravenclaw hoops. James rose higher in the air on his broom and sped over to dennis, the seeker.
"Dennis!" he called, trying to not be overheard by the ravenclaw seeker. He pointed down towards the ravenclaw hoops. Dennis spotted the snitch immediately and dove towards it. Unfortunately, ravenclaw's seeker saw him dive for it and went after it to.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" bellowed Dorsal "our wishes, hopes, and prayers are coming true! i believe the snitch has been spotted by not one team- but two! Both seekers are neck to neck for it! Who will get it, who will get it? Oh! Nobody! The snitch has taken off again and they've lost it, boys and girls, they've lost it!"
James cursed under his breath and turned around on his broom, forgetting about the snitch and going for the quaffle again. He needed to focus.
…[...[]...]...
"Gryffindor wins!" the final announcement rung and the gryffindor team soared towards the ground. All the ravenclaw booing was drowned out by the screaming gryffindors.
"We did it!" lisa yelled, dropping her broom. Before james knew it she ran over to him and wrapped her arms around him, almost knocking him off his feet. He laughed and hugged her back.
Congratulations were yelled, hands clapped his shoulders and the team jumping around him made it all a blur of red and gold.
There was a party up in the common room that night. Being head boy, james could shut it down if he wanted but he didn't see the harm. It was a saturday night. Besides, how many parties in the common room had he himself started?
Technically he didn't actually have proof there was a party happening in the common room right now, but james hadn't been a part of gryffindor for seven years to not know when they would throw a party.
Right now james was with lily, walking back from the quidditch pitch. A few students were still mulling about, making their way towards the castle. Mainly just seventh years who were past the point of caring about getting in trouble and first years that wanted to prove they were cool.
James and lily walked in a comfortable silence. As they went lily slipped her hand into his. He rubbed circles on the back of her hand. As they went towards the dormitories lily broke the silence.
"I don't want to go back to the common room."
"Well, where do you want to go?" james chuckled. They didn't have many options.
"Follow me." lily smirked at him and led him to a wall.
"Wow. this is great, lily. I have to say, i'm inspired."
"Wait." was all she said. a few seconds later the wall began to morph until there was a small wooden door in it.
"Come on." she pulled him through it and when she shut it behind him it vanished again.
"Huh. well that's a good trick."
"Oh, shut up." she laughed and walked over to a large bookshelf on the wall.
"How did we not know about this place?" he mused to himself, walking over to join her in front of the book shelf.
"I don't know who 'we' is. Clearly i knew about it." lily quipped, tossing some of her hair back. It was too short to actually go over her shoulder but it was quite bouncy now.
"What is this place?"
"Whatever you want it to be." she plucked a book off the shelf and walked over to a corner of the room stuffed with pillows and blankets. "It's called the room of requirement." she continued "it'll be there when you need it."
"That's… nifty." james ran his finger along the spines of the books on the shelves and picked one that looked interesting.
"Well, well, well. the infamous james potter can read. Who knew."
"I don't know who 'we' is," he mocked, going to sit down next to her "clearly i knew."
Lily stuck her tongue out at him and james grabbed a pillow.
The two of them sat like that, just reading, for hours. Eventually, lily curled up and put her head on his lap and both of them, without realizing it, fell asleep like that. Lily sleeping peacefully for the first time since her dad had died and james stroking her hair.
