Chapter 122

Miracle on the Quidditch Pitch

"Can I look now?" James whined squinting. The scarf around his eyes would have prevented him from peeking even if Sirius hadn't stolen his glasses, the punch in the shoulder he received in reply reminded him that his, so called, best friend had muffled his ears as well.

Honestly, he wasn't in the mood for surprises, and they certainly didn't have time for it. But Sirius was in a good mood for the first time in a month and James didn't have the heart to be mean.

The smell of a boy's locker room alerted him to where they were before Sirius had a chance to remove the spell from his ears and the blindfold from his eyes.

"Do you have any idea how annoying you are?" Sirius asked sounding just as irritated as James had expected him too. He'd been trying to be annoying, so the question was pointless. The Gryffindor Quidditch team stared at them in shock.

"Padfoot, what?"

"There's a game today, Prongs. I know you've been avoiding any information about quidditch lately, but you have to know the last game of the season is today." Sirius smirked at him, he was practically bouncing from excitement and James couldn't help but wonder if it was indeed a full grown dog he was trying to transform into rather then a very large puppy.

It was true that James had been avoiding knowing anything about how the season was going. He was afraid that if he knew the details he wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to abandon more important things to play Quidditch. It was a sacrifice he wasn't always strong enough to make.

"I know that! My point is..." James sighed, looking around at the stunned faces surrounding him (it hadn't been that long since he'd been to a game) and dragged Sirius out of the locker room. "We don't have time, Si, we've got two essays due tomorrow, Binns gave us that chart, and Pete still hasn't got his predators memorized and..."

"Screw Peter, and Binns for that matter too," Sirius interrupted. "We're all stressed and we need a break. Besides, it's Saturday, we've still got a whole day before any of that stuff is due."

"Sirius, I solemnly swear..." He began a threat but was interrupted again.

"I told Remus we were playing. He's coming to watch." Sirius' smile widened, he knew he'd won, and so did James. The next full moon was only five days away, yet Remus was going to sit on a hard bench in the middle of a crowd that was, without a shadow of a doubt, going to be loud and obnoxious, just to watch them play. If the ill werewolf was willing to come to a game that was now guaranteed to take all night since the Gryffindor team needed two hundred and seventy points to win the cup (hey, he'd been trying to avoid information, that didn't mean he was successful) and he'd be ashamed if he let them get anything less.

"Jerk."

Sirius laughed, "besides Jules got beat up the other day, he's still dizzy."

"Jules is the seeker..." James considered this.

"Yeah, and they don't have a backup. Y'know because Smith is a moron." Sirius shrugged, watching James' brain work. James had no idea how to pull off a win with the team their captain had stupidly assembled but he considered himself a miracle worker so it would be fine.

"None of them can seek, Jules could barely seek."

"Can you?" Sirius's smirk was back, he knew the answer already, James could play any position if he tried hard enough.

"What are the conditions?"

"Windy, but dry."

"Do you know the other teams players?"

"I know the seeker." Sirius' smile faded a little, but James wasn't worried.

"Any good?"

"He's got good eyes, but he'll fall for any fakeout in the book." Sirius chuckled, his smile returning. It was someone he'd known well and still thought James could beat him. That's all the information James needed.

"I might be able to..." He trailed off, pausing for a moment as he did his best to calculate a winning team. "Okay, but everyone is going to have to do exactly what I say. First and foremost, you need to keep Smith away from the quaffle."

"Aye aye, captain." Sirius saluted him and they returned to the locker room.

Captain, James liked the sound of that, of course, his abysmal attendance record likely destroyed any chance he had at becoming Quidditch captain, but he'd been avoiding thinking about that for the past year. Some things were more important.

Today, however, Sirius was right. They needed a break or they (aka Sirius) were likely to snap, so what was important was that this was likely to be his only chance to lead a Quidditch team to victory and he'd be damned if he wasn't going to make sure they went all the way.

"Alright, if we're going to win this thing we're going to have to work at it," he announced as he and Sirius entered and the team collectively cheered, all but the captain who was already offended. "I'll play seeker as for the rest of you chasers, this is going to be a long game. If we want the cup, and of course we do, we're going to have to be two hundred and seventy points up, one-fifty for the snitch, that means you lot have to be one hundred and twenty points up before I can even hope to end the game."

"What?" James' replacement, whose name he didn't know nor care to know, looked faint at the idea.

"And that," he said pointing at the amateur "is why I want all of the chasers and beaters to focus on getting the quaffle to Kathy."

"Me?" Kathy didn't like the idea, at all.

"You're the only one on this merlin-forsaken team that can reliably score goals. Don't worry too much, with how much Slytherin cheats a good half of them will be handed to you on a silver and green platter." James shrugged it off, but Kathy didn't look any more confident. Andrea Heifer, the other beater and one of the few members of the female sex Sirius could tolerate for extended periods of time, gave her a reassuring pat on the back though her 'sucks to be you' smile negated any effect it might have had. "If you guys do your jobs right Keth shouldn't have anything to fail at blocking." Keth looked like he was going to protest but shrugged it off, if a cool guy like James thought he sucked then he probably did.

"Alright guys, I know winning this cup seems impossible right now, and I know a good half of our team sucks at Quidditch." There were some angry murmurs from a select few, more though were nodding with desperate expressions. "But if we follow the plan we can win this. Provoking the Slytherins into cheating must be done carefully, we can't give them any free throws, understood?" His speech was mostly met with nods and he turned to lead the way out onto the field, it was the captain's place but he felt no guilt in taking it. Sirius was on his right hand where he belonged. "You're sure about this seeker?" He whispered to his best friend.

"I taught him everything he knows." Sirius chuckled, and James was confused until he made it out onto the field. He didn't need to wonder who the seeker was, not when Regulus Black stood on the other side of the field in green quidditch robes. He hadn't realized it, but Sirius' little brother was perfectly built for a seeker.

It was the only advantage he had against James.

"In that case, I know he sucks." James teased, Sirius retaliated by pushing him nearly to the ground. "In all solemness, though, thanks. You're right, I needed this."

Sirius growled at his abuse of the word solemn but shook it off with a smile and a laugh. "Of course, I'm right."

The Slytherins made it known that they weren't happy with James' self-appointment to captain. Their captain, whose name James didn't know but he recognized as one of the Slytherins he'd practiced transfig spells on with Sirius last week when Sirius had gotten frustrated over a potions essay. James was pleased to see that one of his eyes was bigger than the other, Sirius really was getting better at the subject, though his grade was stagnating at best, his actual skill was worlds better. He still wasn't at the skill level he should be for something as complicated as the animagus transformation, but if they could get Peter this far Sirius shouldn't be a problem.

He shook his head silently reminding himself that today wasn't a day to focus on important stuff as he mounted his trusty Nimbus 1992 (no other brand was good enough for a Potter, of course) and kicked off the ground rising higher than he was accustomed to.

The look on Regulus' face when he realized James was playing seeker was priceless, a mixture of exasperation and a realistic expectation of failure.

Not so high and mighty now was he.

The game started strong, just as James preferred it, the quaffle changing hands constantly but never quite making it to the goal rings. It gave him a chance to examine the other team, determine the strengths and weaknesses of both teams, he couldn't help but think that seeker was the perfect position for a captain to play, you had a perfect vantage point, and you weren't in the thick of things, you could watch and plan.

And it was boring. He hated playing seeker, he wanted to be down there in the thick of things. Pushing his broom to the limit of its speed, swerving around opponents, dodging the bludgers, the entire game in a blur of motion none of this waiting and watching bull. But the seeker was the most important position in the game and at the moment he was the only one he could trust to do it, even Sirius got distracted far too easily to even be considered as a decent seeker so here he was bored out of his mind as he watched Sirius cleverly maneuver a Slytherin beater into aiming at Smith even though the latter was nowhere near the quaffle and 'accidently' not blocking it in time.

He looked at his opponent who didn't look bored at all and smirked. Sirius had said Regulus was gullible. He might as well have some fun while he was waiting for Sirius, Andrea, and Kathy to do all the work.

He jolted off to one direction on the other side of the field, high enough that he wasn't likely to disturb the game and not too high that it was obvious he was faking. Regulus didn't follow, he was too smart for that, he knew James was aiming for the cup, not just the game. However, Sirius hadn't been wrong. Regulus didn't follow on his broom, but he had his eyes firmly on James and James smiled. Sure, Regulus hadn't chased after him, but that was unimportant. Regulus was watching him, which meant he wasn't watching for the snitch.

That being finished James went back to observing the game, he wasn't looking for the snitch, he didn't care where it was he couldn't catch it yet anyway, besides Regulus was doing enough looking for the both of them. Keeping the corner of his eye open for any movement in the young seeker he watched his team. Kathy had the quaffle, good they were sticking to the plan, Andrea guarding her while Sirius found sneaky ways to keep both the Slytherins and Smith away from her. The ex-captain seemed to care more about thwarting James' plan then actually winning the game, and Sirius had taken the git's challenge as an excuse to send him to the hospital wing.

James just hoped neither of them ended up in a body bag... though admittedly it was mostly just Sirius he was worried about.

Kathy scored the first goal, finally, twelve more and he could actually do something. That's not to say he wasn't having fun, it had been a long time since he'd just sat and watched a game. The passive tension was oddly relaxing in a way that he didn't feel when he played chaser. It was a peaceful respite in the insanity that was his life recently and probably exactly what he needed right now.

And Regulus was not going to ruin it.

He chased after the other seeker, who had eyes only for the golden ball that hovered just above the Gryffindor students stands. James cut him off, not caring at all when the smaller boy flew right into him. The Gryffindor's cheered, he could even see Remus and Peter in the back row where there were fewer students and it was marginally quieter for the sake of Remus' headache.

There was the sound of Gryffindor scoring another goal as Regulus attempted to detangle himself from James and James was only making the job harder while laughing himself silly.

Sirius would have just pushed James off his broom by now, but Regulus wasn't like Sirius it took him a good five minutes to realize that James was not going to let him go while the coach still thought it was an accident. Only then did Regulus finally accept the penalty of kicking James hard in the stomach forcing the Gryffindor to release him and the coach's whistle rang giving Kathy a free shot.

Regulus wasn't like Sirius, but he certainly could glare like him. James couldn't help but laugh as he sped off after checking that the snitch had successfully disappeared.

James turned his attention to the game just as a whistle blew for a time out. It seemed Sirius finally managed to get Smith knocked unconscious, and without getting caught... impressive.

He landed pretending to be upset about the former captain's injury before returning to Sirius and the team.

"What happened? I was busy making your brother mad at me?" James laughed when Sirius gave him a thumbs up.

Keth stepped forward to give him a rundown of the game, most of which he knew but he let the kid continue anyway.

"Score's thirty to twenty Gryffindor. Sorry James I got nervous." He gave an appropriate level of regret so James waved it off. "The Slytherins are doing pretty good avoiding cheating but it's still early in the game and they've still got the cup."

"Not for long they don't." James nodded, he was beginning to like this kid. "Okay, now that Smith's ego can't distract us the plan is going to change a little. Chasers, focus a bit more on keeping the quaffle away from the Slytherins, every point they earn is extra work for you. Sirius good job keeping Smith out of the way, I need you to keep the Slytherins away from the quaffle. Andrea, you've been doing great guarding, keep it up."

She beamed at him, the entire team seemed to have their spirits lifted, they were hardly recognizable from the gloomy states when he'd first caught them in back in the locker room. It just proves how vital a good leader is to a team.

"And, Keth," the second year's head popped back from where the Slytherin team's cheers had distracted him, "keep your chin up, those guys are a lot bigger than you and stronger. They're intimidating, I know, but you don't have to be bigger than them, or stronger. You just have to be faster, and that's where you have the advantage. They aren't allowed to attack you, don't forget that, and if they do anyway then cool, free throw for us, way to take one for the team, and all that rubbish."

Keth looked slightly cheered up though he peeked back at the Slytherins nervously.

"You lot good?" He asked and there were nods all around. He turned to Sirius who had a smirk on his face.

"Let's go get us a trophy." Sirius gave him a punch on the shoulder before mounting his broom and pushing off, the others all following suit.

The Slytherin chaser started with control of the quaffle, but that didn't last long as the Malfoy twins failed to protect her from Sirius, giving the ball to one of James' chasers, the wimpy one whose name James still didn't know. It didn't matter because the quaffle went straight to Kathy even though he risked losing it in the process. Lovely, he was lazy too, James couldn't help but wonder what kind of moron picks a team like this.

By virtue of pure skill Kathy managed to keep the quaffle away from the three Slytherins who were now guarding her, the captain had realized they were relying on her. James had known he would, but there was nothing for it. She was the only one he trusted with the quaffle. James missed what happened next because he had to prevent Regulus from going after the snitch. The kid did have good eyes. James hadn't even noticed the golden ball until after Regulus started after it and he'd just been looking in that direction. His flying skill needed work, though.

By the time his attention was back on the game the Slytherin captain had control of the quaffle, but was gaining no ground. Kathy was holding her stomach in pain and James knew exactly what happened. James had the coach's attention so the Slytherin captain took the opportunity to cheat hoping to get their only decent chaser out of commission and maybe even getting them disqualified for only having one chaser.

But the joke was on them, Kathy was a tough girl. A little injury like that wasn't going to take her down. Andrea was taking his attack as a personal insult since she'd been guarding the chaser. A well-placed bludger directly to the head and Gryffindor was once again in possession though Andrea's glare told him that her vengeance had not yet been satisfied.

Kathy scored more out of spite than anything else. James was reminded of a muggle phrase Remus liked to use when James accidently insulted Evans. Something about hell not being as scary as an angry woman, he wasn't sure but he remembered there were stupid words in it that only people like Sirius even understood.

The penalty whistle blew, one of the Malfoy twins hit Sirius with his (or her, it was hard to tell with the Malfoys) bat. Which he thought was perfect, and wasn't at all concerned with the state of his friend's head. Priorities were taking a back seat today after all. They were thirty points up, only ninety to go.

This was going to be a very long game. Poor Remus, what was he going to do when the sun went down? James was going to smack Sirius when this was over for his lack of foresight, the pup should have known better.

The announcer called out a point for Slytherin and he began to wonder if it was even possible for them to win the cup, they were in for a long game and they had no backup. The Slytherins would be able to change out players, giving them a chance to rest, his team would be playing through the night. But they needed a long game. Maybe he should just let it end with a simple win.

James laughed at himself, simple? Since when did James Potter ever pick the simple option? He was a fourteen-year-old teaching himself to transform into a stag at will, he was chasing the only girl in the school who didn't want him, and his three best friends consisted of a werewolf with bipolar syndrome, a kid that after four years of re-training still instinctively resorted to dark magic in dangerous situations and the single most cowardly Gryffindor he had ever met who needed someone to hold his hand just so he could function on a daily basis.

But more importantly, he wanted that cup, and James Potter always got what he wanted.

James called a time out, not half an hour from the previous one, and didn't so much as pause to land before he started talking.

"New plan, but it's risky." The team nodded, trusting him to know what he was doing, or at the very least wanting to blame him if they miserably lost. "Keth, have you ever played seeker before?"

The boy snapped to attention, "umm, once, my cousin was sick and I picked the shortest straw."

"Brilliant, that's once more than I expected. You're going to play seeker for a while," James ordered, not caring what-so-ever if the kid even wanted to play seeker.

"I am?"

"He is?"

"Yeah, you'll do great since you don't have to actually do anything. Sirius, can I ask you to keep Regulus away from the snitch? Or is that going to be a problem." James looked at his friend, for once actually interested in someone's opinion of his orders.

"You're joking right. Prongs, mate, I taught him to play Quidditch so I had an excuse to hit things at him." Sirius said with a smirk.

"And that's why I'm glad I'm an only child." Andrea nodded pointing at him, drawing a laugh from the team.

"You, what's your name, you're going to..." He started pointing at his replacement.

"My name's John." he interrupted irritably.

"Yeah, don't care. You're taking Keth's place as the keeper. It'll be perfect for you since between me and Kathy..."

"Kathy and I." Andrea interrupted, and James glared at her while Sirius chuckled and gave her a high five.

"Me and Kathy! you won't have anything to do." James ignored Sirius and Andrea's giggles as well as No name's offended expression. Kathy, I'm going to join you, not that you're not doing great on your own, but we need a hundred and twenty points still and we have no backup if someone starts to get tired. I'd like to have this over by sundown."

"Praise the Lord," Kathy said with as much drama as she could muster. It would have been impressive if James didn't live with Sirius.

"Andrea... um just keep doing what you were doing. You were doing great." He smiled, but she didn't look so sure.

"I dunno, maybe Sirius and I should switch places, Kathy got hurt," she said rubbing her arm and refusing to make eye contact.

"Shut it, if you make him deny me the chance to hit stuff at Reg I swear I will never forgive you." Sirius smacked her upside the head and she responded by punching him in the side, "besides that move was dirty, it wasn't your fault. Even I wouldn't have expected it."

"Oh, yes, and I'm sure you're the pinnacle of skill, mister I-haven't-practiced-in-a-year," Kathy responded with a roll of her eyes but looked at Andrea with a smile. "I'm fine, 'Ria, all of them were ganging up on me, you were bound to miss one eventually."

"And Sirius would never forgive me if I switched your jobs." James chuckled, "in all solemness, keeping the Slytherins away from the snitch is slightly more important than the chasers safety at the moment, and Sirius has the advantage of a long lasting grudge on his side so..."

"That git isn't getting anywhere near the snitch," Sirius growled in agreement, and Andrea laughed, successfully cheered up.

James pushed off the ground, lower this time, and checked to make sure the team had followed orders. It was a testament to how desperate they were for a win that even the new keeper (whose name James had forgotten before the timeout broke up) obeyed readily. Kathy pushed up right beside him with Andrea hovering right behind them, a serious look on her face. No Name was at the goals and Keth was trying to avoid eye contact with Regulus while Sirius was having a silent (and snarky, judging by Regulus' expression) conversation with the Slytherin seeker. James' last thought before the quaffle was released and instinct took over was that Sirius might be enjoying this a little too much. James was the one to catch the quaffle, his reflexes had survived his hiatus intact. However, very little else did.

He was slower than he remembered, significantly so, the Slytherin chasers were on him long before they should have been, however, they knew his pride and had left Kathy wide open not expecting him to share the quaffle.

Which was a good thing because his aim was abysmal, Kathy had to fly a good five feet to catch the ball, but she was able to score unhindered and didn't seem to mind. Even as out of practice as he was he was still better than her usual teammates.

In the corner of his eye, he saw both Sirius and Keth block Regulus as the announcer cheered in the microphone, yelling something about him. Trusting them both, his attention returned to the quaffle. Adrenaline pumping through his veins as he caught his partner's toss with minor difficulty.

This was how Quidditch was supposed to be played, quick thinking and his heartbeat in his ears. None of that sitting around watching, this was what he needed. The crowd was cheering him on. Sure the seeker won the game but it was the chasers that won the cup. It was the chasers they watched.

Kathy scored after a pass that he'd aimed better, he still didn't trust himself to get it past the keeper at his diminished skill. She looked re-invigorated by his mere presence, or at least by the lessening of the pressure on herself, but he liked his explanation better.

The Slytherin captain caught it this time, but Andrea wasn't having any of that. Her personal vendetta quickly returned the quaffle to her captain's hands, who passed it off like he was playing hot potato, and another score.

"80-20." the announcer yelled, but that was all James heard as he dodged a punch from one of the Slytherin chasers, Andrea was busy driving a bludger away from Kathy and towards Sirius who just barely missed Regulus' head.

The Slytherin's were getting mad. They'd planned on an easy game, they'd expected the cup to be in their hands by now, maybe even they'd be halfway into the victory party. Instead, there they were trying to catch up to someone who hadn't played all year.

And James was relishing every minute of it.

He'd be a hero after this, the attention he was getting and the glory he was looking forward to was already going to his head. People would be talking about him for years to come.

But he put that aside, he wasn't going to win by hogging the ball and showboating. And when he threw his priorities out the window, winning was everything.

Now if only he could aim well enough to shoot goals himself.

James risked a peek at Sirius, he and Keth seemed to be having a grand old time driving Regulus absolutely insane. James gave a chuckle as he stole the quaffle from one of the other team's chasers, carrying it for a while before passing it when he forced an opening. The Slytherins just couldn't keep up and they scored again.

He could kiss that girl right now, unless... He changed his mind when he saw a red-haired angel in the stands.

Kathy would have to settle for a hug.

Seeing his dream girl in the stands spurred him to greater heights solely to impress the green-eyed beauty. She'd have to go out with him after this!

He caught a pass meant for the Slytherin captain, maybe he should shoot this one himself. The Slytherins had figured out his weakness, and he couldn't find an opening to pass. Even ignoring Evans in the stands (which now that he knew where she was was becoming impossible) he'd have to take this shot himself. In preventing a chance to pass they'd given him a chance to score.

"Don't you dare botch this shot, Potter." He said to himself as he raced towards the goal constantly looking for an opening to pass just in case.

They never gave him a chance and he got more and more anxious. A bludger came after him and he spun on his broom, flying upside down for a moment, to dodge it, before righting himself. His mind was racing as he neared the scoring zone, should he do a fake-out or try to outspeed the keeper. Kathy had been doing the latter but was he fast enough.

Andrea solved the problem for him, shooting a bludger at the keeper with her usual excellent timing, giving him a clear shot. If he missed now, he'd have no excuse. He shot the quaffle from as close as he could get in the amount of time it took the keeper to recover.

He scored.

It wasn't a clean shot. The quaffle hit the rim and fell through the hoop more than soared through it, but it was a point.

The Slytherin captain was angry and attempted once again to get Kathy injured. This time, Andrea blocked it, laughing at him all the while.

The coach's whistle blew for a penalty shot. As Kathy moved to take the shot James watched Keth pull off a brilliant distraction just in time for Sirius to pelt his little brother in the arm with a bludger, once again preventing his capture of the snitch.

"Finally." James heard Sirius cheer, it was the last straw for Regulus who turned around and yelled something back at the pup. James wished he had time to watch. It was the first time the younger Black had acknowledged Sirius' existence in a month and from the look on Sirius' face it wasn't a bad thing.

But alas, he had to get busy winning the cup. The Slytherins caught the ball at release and it was a tough fight getting it back. They were dead set on keeping it, however, James was dead set on taking it.

They'd just barely entered the scoring area when James found his opportunity. If he could come in from the top... but that required a dive and James was awful at diving even while in practice. But there was nothing for it, Kathy was halfway across the field, her broomstick (a mach 10, ironically) wasn't fast enough to keep up with the desperate speed the Slytherins were maintaining.

James pulled up, the snake had eyes only for the goal posts. The announcer was yelling, anticipating his epic maneuver. James wasn't, he was going to crash right into the ground. He knew it. But priorities, like not killing himself over an empty cup) were being ignored. So he dived.

He fell right in front of the Slytherin chaser, giving her a cheeky "thanks" as he stole the quaffle, and continued falling. He had no idea how to stop.

He hated dives, and he was never going to do one ever again. James acted entirely on instinct, jumping off the broom when he was at a reasonable distance from the ground and rolling a few times as he landed. The moment he was on his feet again the headed straight for his trusty broomstick who'd hit the ground hard.

"I'm so sorry," he yelled to it as he climbed back on and pushed off the ground, quaffle in hand.

His Nimbus protested, and James groaned, mentally to avoid offending his baby girl any further, his parents had just gotten him this broom and now he'd broken it.

He passed the ball to Kathy who, for once, was entirely open and she proved her reliability once again.

They were only a hundred points up. They needed just two more goals, but his broom wasn't going to make it. He either had to hope for the Slytherin's to, stupidly, give them two more free throws, or trust Kathy to make these two points entirely on her own. He even considered having Sirius back her up for a bit, but they needed good beaters. That much had become glaringly obvious with how much Sirius and Andrea were saving their collective hides lately and his broom wouldn't do much better at beating then at chasing. And Keth probably hadn't played either position enough to do any good.

He called a timeout.

"You killed it, didn't you." Sirius laughed as he landed, running over.

"She's not dead yet," James pouted examing his poor girl. The handle was cracked and half the twigs were broken and the few that were left were sticking out at odd angles.

"What are we going to do? You'll break your neck on that thing," Sirius warned him, kneeling to inspect the broom himself. "You realize this is only the second time you've ridden this one, right?"

"Third." James protested with a sigh. "There's nothing else to do, we have to return to our original positions."

"Are you crazy? Kathy will get murdered out there by herself!" Sirius handed him back the broom and crossing his arms. James didn't appreciate the attitude his body language was screaming at him.

"Yeah, can we avoid the murdering of Kathy, please and thank you," the female chaser said adjusting her ponytail from where it had somehow moved halfway to the side of her head. James wasn't sure how that had happened. She didn't bother with the bangs that had fallen out.

"As long as you two are guarding her, I'm sure she'll be fine," James said shaking his head, his brain concerned with more important things then his chaser's safety... like winning an empty cup.

"James, mate, there are seven of them, and two of us. We're good, but I don't know that we're that good." Sirius pouted, more because he knew there was no chance of changing the sort-of captain's mind.

"You can do it."

"And who's going to keep Reg away from the snitch while I'm trying to keep your chasers alive?" Sirius complained moving his hand to his hip and his eyebrows raised.

"I will."

"On that broom? So we're murdering both you and Kathy today. Good to know."

"I'll figure something out, Padfoot. Do you have a better idea, or are you just nagging for the sake of nagging?!" Stags didn't growl but James did his best.

"You could use my broom if I'm going back to keeper I'm not gonna need it," Keth suggested holding out his own broomstick. The team stared at him and his cheeks went pink.

"It's actually a solid plan, Prongs," Sirius said turning back to James. "Keepers don't move around a lot even when they are playing and, hopefully, he won't be. And it won't take you long to get used to the broom, Starbolts are basically cheap Nimbus ripoffs."

James hesitated it was a good plan, but...

"It's too dangerous. I mean if it were me or you that would be one thing, but if he gets hurt..."

"I'll be okay," he said with a smile. "I'm a Gryffindor after all, danger's kinda par for the course."

"Kid's got a point," Kathy said messing up the boy's hair.

"I'll keep an eye on him, Prongs." Sirius shrugged a smile on his face.

James let out a sigh but nodded. "I guess if you're willing to risk it."

"Great! So now can we find a solution to the Kathy-getting-murdered problem?" Kathy asked as the boys swapped brooms.

"You'll be fine, you're a great dodger." James waved her off more interested in the broomstick he'd just received.

Sirius let out his bark-like laugh at her frustration and they were in the air again.

James didn't like the change in brooms, but what he liked even less was watching Keth swerve and struggle with the broken one. He was going to regret this, he just knew it.

The announcer questioned James' sanity, forgetting that he wasn't actually the captain.

Kathy started with the quaffle, and the poor girl nearly screamed when every Slytherin but Regulus and the keeper came after her. Sirius and Andrea were nearly glued to her sides, as they struggled to keep the Slytherins away juggling a bludger between them to keep control of it while still hitting the snakes looked like it required more concentration than James thought Sirius had. Sure Kathy got hit a couple of times, but she got the point, and really that's what matters.

Regulus, on the other hand, would not be distracted. Relieved as he was that Sirius was otherwise occupied, and no doubt having been given a hard time for his previous distraction, Regulus stayed as far from James as he could and was constantly scanning the field. James, however, knew his weakness. Anytime James moved Regulus watched. Less of an actual weakness and more of a job requirement seekers needed to know where their opponent was at all times. James used this to his advantage. Not moving constantly, as that would be too obvious, but subtly moving halfway across the field, after checking that the snitch wasn't, in fact, there.

He needn't have bothered, though, as the little golden ball didn't seem too keen on revealing itself at the moment and when it did both seekers eyes were elsewhere.

Slytherin was in possession, Sirius had been hit by one of the Malfoy twins in the right arm. The limb was likely broken judging by how Sirius was now attempting to swing his bat with his left, giving the opposing team an opening to steal the quaffle.

The worst part was they didn't cheat once to do it. The Slytherin captain must have decided it wasn't worth it. It was a wise decision that he wouldn't have thought possible of a Slytherin.

One more goal, that was all they needed, if the Slytherins scored this point it would be over, his team was tired or injured or on brooms that weren't cooperating. They wouldn't recover from this.

James almost cried when the opposing team's chasers entered the scoring zone, Kathy lagging behind despite her best efforts.

"Come on, Keth," James whispered, despite knowing the second-year didn't have a chance. Even on his own properly working broom, he wouldn't have been able to block the goal, not panicking as he was. There was silence in the crowd as the Slytherin chaser shot, it felt like the entire stadium was holding their breath all at the same time.

Then Sirius yelled something James didn't quite catch but seemed to wake Keth up. In his hurry to attempt a block, the borrowed broom protested the sudden movement sending the twelve-year-old flying off the back of the broom hanging precariously by the bristled end, far too high in the air.

But more importantly, the quaffle had hit him right in the chest and was now falling safely to the ground.

The crowd erupted, a mixture of cheering and angry screaming, spurring Kathy into a spectacular dive grabbing the quaffle from where it now lay on the ground and racing toward the Slytherin's goals before the Slytherins were even finished yelling at their captain for wasting such a vital shot.

The rest, however, was lost on the two seekers watching, as the tiny golden ball chose that time to reveal itself. It's timing was impeccable just a little later and he'd be able to catch it, but when he turned to look at his opponent he knew the other had seen it and more importantly that there was nothing he could do to stop Regulus from catching it.

They both went after it at the same time, James at a tremendous disadvantage. Not only was he out of practice but he wasn't even a seeker, and had never trained as such. That wasn't even taking his, both unfamiliar and cheap, broom into consideration, whereas Regulus had one of the best brooms money could buy.

James however, had one advantage, he decided as he chased the tiny demon across the field not even sure if it was safe to catch it or not. The crowd was roaring so loud he couldn't hear the announcer.

His advantage?

Today, for this one game only, he didn't care.

He didn't care if he broke his neck hitting the Slytherin beater determined to stop him, he didn't care if his broom snapped while ramming into Regulus to slow the other down, he didn't care that there was a full moon in three days or that he had no idea what the potions essay was supposed to be about, he didn't care that if they didn't cast the right spells on each other at the exact right time tomorrow they'd likely not have to worry about any potions essay ever again.

Right now, all that mattered was that he catch that infuriating little ball before Sirius' evil little brother and, hopefully, after Kathy scored. So when the snitch hovered right beside the solid wall holding up the Slytherin house stands and Regulus slowed so he could (hopefully and properly) catch it safely, it came to no surprise to him that he didn't.

For a few seconds after running directly into a solid wall all he could comprehend was that he was in pain, like everywhere, even his ears hurt. The second thing he became aware of was that a tiny metal ball was trying to escape from his hand.

He did it.

"Prongs, mate? Tell me you're not dead." He heard Sirius yell, likely having raced there faster then his broom could move.

"He's breathing." This voice was harder to recognize but eventually he connected it to his heroic keeper.

"Not dead." James groaned out, opening his eyes.

Sirius cursed, startling the young boy. "What kind of idiot are you? Running into a solid wall like that, nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry, Mum." James teased with a smile, trying to bully his body into a seating position. Keth helped him, which he was grateful for. He held out the tiny ball, "I got it."

The two stared at it in shock before both cheered, upsetting the orchestra playing in James' head. Keth hugged him tightly, also painful, and Sirius grabbed the snitch to show everyone else it had been caught.

"Did we do it?" James asked his keeper, "did Kathy score in time?"

Keth beamed at him, "she got it in just before you hit the wall. We did it, James, we got the cup!"

James breathed a sigh of relief, feeling like he'd been holding his breath for the entire game. He'd been so worried he'd been too early, but there had been no way to hold off Regulus.

The seeker in question landed not far from where James was sitting. "You know, you're completely insane, right?" Regulus asked, an almost invisible smile on his face.

"You're not too bad yourself." James' smile was obvious, because his lips hurt, and chose to take the youngest Blacks words as a compliment. The Slytherin just shook his head and walked away unconcerned with the angry comments his teammates had for him.

James' own teammates landed around him, Kathy and Andrea also giving him a large painful, but totally worth it, hug the former even had tears in her eyes.

"Kathy, Keth, I want you two to go ahead and accept the cup, sorry I can't pass it over like I'm supposed to."

"Me?" Keth asked while Kathy tried to reassure him that they weren't the slightest bit upset.

"Well yeah, if you hadn't blocked that goal we'd have been doomed, and if you hadn't loaned me your broom, I'd have never gotten the snitch." Keth's cheeks were red, but he was beaming still. "Sorry about your broom, though," James winced when he looked at it, it was in worse shape than his own. "I'll replace it, any broom you want."

Keth looked at the ruined broom sadly but nodded and his smile returned. "It's okay, she died happily. I'm sure." Keth replied and James had the distinct impression that the kid had only used the female pronoun because James, himself, had used it for his own broom.

Keth and Kathy stood to take their places on the stage and receive their prize when James stopped the second-year.

"Oh Keth, by the way, what did Sirius yell to you earlier? Y'know just before you saved the quaffle." He asked and the boy's cheeks went pink again.

"Oh, ahh," Keth peeked at Sirius who was having his shoulder examined by a very pale, very sickly looking, Remus. "He, um, said a bad..."

"You can paraphrase," James interrupted.

"Okay well, he said, 'Keth if you miss this I'm gonna F'n kill you. Except he didn't say F'n." The boy's face was bright red, but James was laughing so hard tears were falling down his face.

A/N) This is the longest chapter yet, clocking in at 7,513 words (the previous longest was chapter 5 at 5,214) and it took a very long time to write. I really hope you guys loved it. I know I was grinning like a maniac at parts.

Yes, I know Keth is supposed to be spelled with an I after the E, I also know I grew attached to the name and the misspelling. So he's got weird parents now.

Also, I've received quite a few comments asking if I'm going to show this, or that, or another thing. The answer to all of them, if it's canon as of the time I'm writing this, yes, otherwise I have no idea. For example, yes Lily and James are going to get together, and no it won't be soon. The books are quite clear that they got together after their fifth year at least (or else Snape's Worst Memory would have been very weird) I can't remember if it specifically says seventh year or if that's how I interpret it but unless otherwise proven wrong by canon they aren't getting together until seventh year, but they will and it will be described (I've actually written the scene at least twice already.)