Chapter 151

Flying Against the Wind

James paced back in forth in front of his team. He was proud of them, they'd worked so hard in the past few weeks. Not only had they improved, they'd actually managed to become a competitive team in time for the match. He only wished that Sirius could be here, the pup wasn't even allowed in the stands now. Though he'd promised to sneak into McGonagall's office to watch, she had the best view of the pitch in the entire school for some reason.

"Some of you may die, but that's a sacrifice I am willing to make," he started, hoping for a few grins to release some tension. Kathy rolled her eyes but the others seemed to be taking it a little too seriously. Everything they'd worked for hung in the balance. "Relax guys, it's only Hufflepuff. You'll do fine."

"I dropped the ball five times last practice," Lissa argued, rubbing her arm.

"Which is about twenty times less than when you started. Just focus on the ball and not on the other team's chasers, let our beaters do their job. Between me and Kathy someone will be able to cover you," he reassured her giving an easy grin. "Our beaters are getting pretty bloody good, you have nothing to worry about. And Anthony, remember to keep an eye on their seeker."

The second year nodded, looking as nervous as James had ever seen him. He looked at Keth who smiled at him with surprising confidence.

"You two good?" he asked the two beaters, Liam looked as though he was hiding behind the much smaller girl but she looked ready to eat some Hufflepuffs.

Faye gave him a wink and a thumbs up, hiding the vaguely murderous look he'd just barely caught her sporting. "You can count on us, captain."

"Uh huh…" he turned away, trying to pretend he wasn't frightened by this small girl. "Then let's get out there."

James led his team out, they could win this, he knew they could. His team may have a few sub-par members, but the rest were exquisite. And even the sub-par ones were only sub-par by his definition, which was a bit more strict than the norm, and significantly more strict than Hufflepuff's. It would be hard work, but he knew they could pull it off.

"Captains shake hands." The coach ordered and James complied with a confident grin. The other captain examined his team, looking curious. He didn't blame him, between the little girl in the beater spot and the way their third chaser was shaking like a leaf he had every right to underestimate them.

He pushed himself into the air along with the rest of his team. Looking around at them giving those he could make eye contact with a reassuring grin before the balls were released and the game began. Anthony's rise had been shaky, and the opposing seeker had even offered him a hand, James still hoped his team beat them to the ground, though. It was a Hufflepuff's responsibility to be kind, but it was Gryffindor's responsibility to win Quidditch games, that's just how it was.

"The first game of the season promises to be an interesting one folks. A single look at the at the Gryffindor team can tell you that the red and gold team is in deep trouble this year."

The announcer was biased, brilliant, because his team needed more reasons to doubt themselves. It wasn't like he hadn't expected it, just the opposite he'd planned on them being underestimated but that didn't mean it was good for Lissa's anxiety or Faye's anger issues. He could already see her smile get less innocent and more threatening.

That girl was creepy.

James concentrated on the game, on swerving and dodging, on getting the ball and keeping it. This time he could actually score goals on his own, and he wasn't shy to prove it.

The first goal went in the hoop before the keeper realized who caught the quaffle.

"Goal for Gryffindor." The announcer said with not nearly enough enthusiasm. Now that he had a chance, James looked over at them, he didn't recognize the fifth year but he was fairly sure they were Ravenclaw. "There's been quite a bit of concerned speculation amongst the fans that Potter chose the worst members for his team to boost his own ego."

James had to tell off Faye for threatening the announcer. Kathy looked ready to strangle the guy too, but James just grinned. They'd show him. "Lissa, don't listen to him, you'll be fine." He reminded his fellow chaser, she was shaking something fierce now, her face red. He was worried that she'd pass out. "You're faster than all of them, just keep yourself open and concentrate."

She nodded but didn't look reassured, he'd have to pass her the quaffle next time he got his hands on it. It would boost her confidence and remind her that he trusted her.

Kathy managed to steal the quaffle from the other team's chasers in record time, beating him to throwing it to Lissa. She managed the catch and was nearly in the scoring zone before they got a chance to oppose her. A bludger came straight for her, Liam got there in time, but the damage was done, startling the poor girl into dropping the ball.

James, on the other hand, had been prepared, flying slightly under her, it was a simple matter to speed up and catch the quaffle before the other team could even notice her blunder.

Another score, the announcer abused Lissa for dropping the quaffle, but James gave her a high-five pretending it had been a good pass, rather than an amateur mistake. She managed a smile.

He was going to hex that announcer prick when the game was over.

The other team was beginning to catch on that they were better than they appeared, two goals virtually unopposed, though both were by James. It seemed they'd taken to guarding him at all times… this was a mistake.

The next goal was by Kathy, thanks to a brilliant distraction by Faye as she hit a bludger at the keeper, knocking him right out of the air, just in time, again there was little the chasers could do to stop her. The announcer claimed Faye was just lucky, refusing to admit he might have been wrong about his judgment of her.

Keth looked bored, way back in Gryffindor's unoccupied scoring zone.

There was a warning whistle from their seeker, and Faye moved to distract the Hufflepuff seeker from the snitch. Anthony wasn't nearly a good enough flyer to do so himself, so they'd developed a bit of a warning system for the beaters. It was working surprisingly well.

The Hufflepuffs managed to get the quaffle in the scoring zone, finally giving Keth a chance to use his new broom. He blocked it easily, overzealous to be relevant in the game, no doubt.

The announcer continued to bash them, despite how thoroughly they were winning the game.

Lissa caught the ball, speeding through the opposition until a Hufflepuff chaser managed to steal it back. This time the quaffle went back and forth like crazy, changing hands from one team to another, never quite reaching a scoring zone.

Liam ended that by getting a bludger passed the other team's beater and crashing it right passed a Hufflepuff chaser's head, giving James an opening to steal the quaffle once again and dodging his way around the other team, just barely keeping ahead of them, he shot, but the keeper managed the block.

There was a whistle from the seeker once again, but this one was different. Anthony had found the snitch but was waiting for James' signal to go after it. Faye would have to distract the Hufflepuff seeker again, it was inconvenient, but the kid was still having a lot of trouble with his speed, he could hardly stop if he went too fast and was afraid to speed up because of it.

James considered his options for only a second. He could tell Anthony to wait, get them an early lead in the championships before he caught it, but then he risked Faye being unable to distract the other seeker later down the line and losing the game. His team was barely up to par, he didn't want to risk any of them getting weary and underperforming due to the length of the game.

He hated to do it, they were winning so thoroughly and it would be so easy to get a few more points in, but he wasn't convinced his team was up to it right now, so he gave a whistle for them to end the game.

Why couldn't they have played Hufflepuff mid-season?

At his whistle, Faye and Liam both aimed a bludger straight at the opposing seeker's head, though Liam looked like he regretted it instantly. The coach called out a penalty shot since the seeker hadn't been after the snitch at the time, but they had successfully knocked her out, allowing Anthony to catch the snitch without opposition.

It wasn't a plan James liked, taking a penalty like that, but he trusted Keth to catch a penalty shot, and if the other seeker so much as caught wind of Anthony's discovery of the snitch they'd have lost. The kid was such a bad flyer.

Keth saved the last penalty shot and the game ended, 180-0. It was a lousy score, and wouldn't do them squat in the actual championships, but it was a win, which would encourage his team enough to hopefully make the next one better. Most people would just see it as a big win, 180 to nothing, good job Gryffindor, they didn't look at the championship score.

It drove James mad, though. Anyone could get a hundred and eighty points to Hufflepuff, the house hardly even noticed quidditch games were coming most the time. Their captain was more interested in keeping team morale up than actually training them to win games. Not that there was anything wrong with the House itself they just didn't do quidditch, Ravenclaw was similar most years, though sometimes they got a few hardcore players that playing against was like bashing your skull against the wall for all the good it'd do you.

Ravenclaws were weird.

Speaking of Ravenclaws, he and Sirius had one that needed to be taught a lesson. Maybe an extension charm on his head would do him some good.

He met Sirius halfway up to the Gryffindor tower. He didn't congratulate James on a well-played game, or for managing to pull a win from that rag-tag team. James was glad, he couldn't handle someone else trying to celebrate a win.

"Slytherin and Ravenclaw are gonna cream us in one game." He said his arms folded as though he was scolding James. James couldn't help but smile, he could always trust Sirius to understand how he felt.

"I know," James whined sitting right down on the steps. Sirius joined him, glaring at anyone who tried to go past them. "Slytherin's team is great this year, and Ravenclaw has Laurane, he's almost as good a chaser as I am. They're seeker's supposed to be brilliant too."

"And you've got a seeker that can't fly and a chaser that drops the ball anytime a bludger gets within a few meters of her."

"They're good players! They really are. They just aren't good at playing. I should have had Harper play instead." James pulled himself up to find a more private room in case any of his team happened up the stairs. It wouldn't do much for their morale to see their captain so upset after their first victory. They, no doubt, were ecstatic that they'd pulled out a win. Sirius followed saying nothing.

"If we're gonna get this cup I have to teach that tart to fly. It doesn't help that everyone else is bullying them. That Ravenclaw loser with the microphone needs a punch in the face." James complained, "junk like that makes them nervous and play even worse."

"Stebbins," Sirius supplied pulling out the Marauder's map and looking for his name, the map took him right to his target. "Recognized his voice, he's in Defence with us. He's an idiot."

"Where is he? I need to vent some anger." James looked over his shoulder the map was currently showing a first-floor hallway, he was slowly heading to his dorm from the look of it.

Sirius pointed to a classroom on the second floor. "We can intercept him there if he's heading for the Ravenclaw common room. I'll deal with his friends." Sirius offered and look back at James. James considered his offer.

"Where's McGonagall?"

The map zoomed over to the quidditch pitch where McGonagall was with Professor Sprout.

"They're probably talking about the match, so they'll be a while." Sirius grinned as the map returned to Stebbins. You could always count on McGonagall to be a while when she was talking Quidditch.

James nodded. "Let's go."

They made their way downstairs, James gave half-hearted smiles at the students congratulating him at a good game, internally raging at them for their stupidity. When they arrived they checked the map again to be sure he was following the path they'd expected, noticing a few of those around him had left leaving him with just two others.

Neither of them really cared who those two others were, they were just in the way. As the three neared the classroom James checked the surrounding areas for teachers, McGonagall was still outside, he nodded at Sirius who stepped outside the classroom.

"Levicorpus," he said as James exited as well, all three students in the air. Snape may have made that charm but Sirius had perfected it. James had seen the hound use it on five people at once before.

"Good Evening," James said, a cocky grin on his face.

"Put us down!" the girl had a Ravenclaw tie as well but looked to be older than them. James looked at Sirius who rolled his eyes at him and rose them higher.

Stebbins protested, frightened and white faced. The other ravenclaw boy looked familiar, James thought he'd picked on him once before.

"Sorry, but I think we need to have a little chat. You two aren't part of this. You can get rid of them, Padfoot." He turned to Sirius who grinned. The two hit the ground hard and didn't get up, frightening Stebbins even more. James knew that Sirius hadn't hurt them just amused by the Ravenclaw's fright.

They weren't the ones getting hurt tonight.