Chapter Eight:
A Break for Quidditch
Remus stared intently into his porridge.
"Is that all you're going to eat, Remus?" Asked Sirius as he stuffed a forkful of bacon into his mouth.
"Yeah." He said blankly.
"Well, if that's all you're going to eat, then eat it." Said Lily. "You'll be dizzy out there if don't." Remus nodded and slurped a spoonful.
"I guess I'm just nervous about today's match." He said. James put a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't you worry Remus. You'll do fine. We all will."
"And I won't let any more bludgers hit you Remus." Sirius said, slightly downcast.
Today, Gryffindor was playing Ravenclaw, as they had three weeks ago, in their last game. It was over quite quickly, when in the heat of an early Seek, Remus was struck by a bludger and Sean Davies was able to get the Snitch easily.
It was Friday, but Dumbledore declared it a holiday, since the Quidditch match that afternoon was quite important, and apparently the school as a whole was getting fairly high marks.
It was finally starting to get warm when the day of the game arrived, and Gryffindor was quite happy.
"Ravenclaw played like polar bears!" Said Marcus O'Reilly.
"My fingers were bloody numb!" Said Sirius. "And that was only after five minutes!"
"But it's much warmer today." Said Evus as they finished robing. James nodded.
"Let's go out there and stomp 'em!" He said, raising his fist, and the rest of the team cheered. James tightened his gloves, gripped his Thunderbolt, and headed to the waiting area to stand with the rest of the team.
"I hope you all know what this game means." Said Evus as they stood facing the wooden door that led to the Quidditch pitch. James gulped.
"We sure do." Said Marcus. "And we all better play our hearts out or we may as well sit out the next game." Everyone nodded and murmured in agreement. Suddenly the doors swung wide open. The players trotted out a short distance and mounted their brooms, taking to the sky.
"We've got a spectacular match coming today!" Said the announcer. "This is Gryffindor's last chance. They must win this game, and by more than fifty points, if they are to have a chance. Ravenclaw needs any victory for a chance to win the Quidditch Tournament!"
Remus could feel the pressure of the crowd upon him. If they won, they might still have a chance for the Quidditch Tournament. And Hufflepuff would be even with Ravenclaw. But if Ravenclaw won...it would be over for Gryffindor.
The players took their positions and readied themselves for the whistle. Marus took to the air and held up the Quaffle.
"Let's have a good game!" And with that he blew a shrill blast in his whistle and tossed the ball up. As soon as the match was begun, the center chaser for Ravenclaw shot forward and grabbed the Quaffle. James had made a dive for it, but was beaten. Max Dorian and Evus McQuent tried backing up rapidly to stop the chaser, but he bolted through the hole left by James and towards Will Johnson.
The chaser faked left and right and right again and left again, but Will remained steady. The chaser threw the ball with all his might to the left of Will, but he was able to stop it. Will quickly tossed it forward to James, who quickly passed it off to Max, who took it up-pitch.
"Max! Max!" Yelled Evus, waving his hand ferociously, as two Ravenclaw seekers approached Max. Max lofted the ball towards Evus, who might have caught it, if not for a bludger, barely deflected by Marcus O'Reilly, that struck his dangling ankles, flipping Evus around his broomstick rapidly. Instead, the Quaffle soared untouched for what seemed like a lifetime, when finally, James caught it, just before another Ravenclaw. He bolted down pitch quickly, speeding past others who had been going for the floating ball.
He zoomed in along the edge of the field, almost hitting every grandstand along the way. He rounded the pitch and came in at the keeper sideways, so that the hoops merely looked like sticks. Knowing he would not be able to make a shot from there, he simply tucked the ball under his arm and shot towards the hoops. The keeper did not exactly know what to do; he hovered in front of the hoop nearest to James.
Chang was caught unawares when James zoomed over the first hoop, and easily slammed the Quaffle through the middle hoop.
"And Gryffindor is up, 10 to none!" Roared the announcer. James grinned broadly as he flew back towards his own goal. Looks like a good beginning, he thought.
One hour into the game, the score was even, seventy to seventy. It was a very exciting match, and the crowd was left on edges of their seats, wondering if Gryffindor would survive, or if Ravenclaw would all but secure the championship.
Then Ravenclaw scored. They scored again quickly. It was ninety to seventy. Gryffindor did not get panicked, however, as twenty points would not change anything, since the Snitch capture was worth 150. Their defense tightened up, so it also seemed Ravenclaw would not be putting the game out of reach for Remus. Now, it was the Seekers' game.
The Seek was a mental chess game between Remus and Sean Davies. Each patrolled, much slower than their brooms could fly, around the pitch, always on the other side of the field of his opponent. Each scanned the skies, constantly checking back to see if his rival had found it. They faked every few minutes, sometimes drawing the attention of the opponent, sometimes the opponent quickly knew it was a feign.
Not long after Gryffindor scored it's eightieth point, both sighted the elusive Golden Snitch. It came halfway through a feigned Snitch-find by Sean Davies. Remus bought it, and pulled even to Davies in the rapid descent. Much to Davies's surprise, however, the Snitch pulled right in front of both of them. As they neared the ground, it shot back up, crossing over the pitch and upward.
The two flew at the limits of their brooms, hurtling through the air at even speed with the glittery ball, it whizzing just beyond the reach of their extended fingertips. From above the two, the picture was symmetrical. Remus on the right, Davies on the left. Remus's left hand and Davies's right were strained forward in hope of snagging the snitch, with their other hands gripping their brooms. The tip of each Thunderbolt was under their stomachs, with the rest of their bodies leaned out over the air. They compensated for the weight by pushing the back of the broom down with their feet, and incredibly tiring exercise.
The game below continued, but everything that mattered was the Seek. The score was even, so there were no worries of the outcome of capturing the Snitch. The bludgers were expertly tied up, volleyed back and forth by the desperately powerful beaters. And there was a huge expanse of empty sky between them and Snitch's limits, making for a match between two wills, with their equal brooms equally being pushed to the limits. It came down a breeze.
In that moment, when the crowd went silent, and Remus Lupin and Sean Davies hurtled through the air, seemingly matching each other in every way so that one might think their hearts beat in unison, a flutter of fate blew through the sky, and a wing of the Snitch missed a tiny beat, and the golden ball was tipped to one side. And the two competitors, seeing the opportunity, lurched forward in one final, desperate grab, one seeing his only chance, the other trying against hope to stop what he couldn't possibly control. And in that moment, Gryffindor lost.
Remus was inconsolable. No matter how much the others told him how little it was his fault and how it came down to luck and a matter of fate, he was sure that he was entirely guilty of Gryffindor's failure.
"I don't think we can do anything for him." Said James to Sirius in the Gryffindor changing room. Remus was lying on a bench in the fetal position, gripping his broom, and staring out blankly.
"I'll wait for him." Said Will, and sat down on the bench opposite him and pulled out some homework. After a little while, James and Sirius then left.
"So, do you think Ravenclaw will beat Hufflepuff?" James shrugged.
"Hufflepuff beat the pants off Slytherin. I think we can expect Ravenclaw to do the same." Sirius nodded.
"Yeah, I reckon you're right." Said Sirius. "I guess it depends on how well we do against Hufflepuff." James nodded.
"Well, let's forget about Quidditch for a while now. I don't want to think about the Hufflepuff game until the time for it comes." Said James. Sirius nodded.
"I'm going to fly around a bit." Said Sirius. James nodded.
"Mind if I join you?" He asked.
"Alright." So with the sun setting, the two soared into the air, feeling the cool breeze on their faces, relaxing after the crushing defeat. The two sailed around the castle for some time, when they were brought out of their near-sleep state.
"Ohhh..." grumbled James, "what is that?" He and Sirius turned to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. They immediately recognized the limping figure.
"Krupp." James said. "I know he's up to something."
"Yeah. I'm sure that was an Invisibility Cloak that we saw in Krupp's office. It all makes sense." James nodded.
"Let's get a closer look." He said. They hovered silently down to the treetops, after Krupp entered the forest. The leaves on the trees were large, and thick, and they could not see Krupp (nor could he them, thankfully).
"What do you reckon he's doing?" James whispered to Sirius. Sirius shrugged.
"I haven't a clue." He whispered back. They heard his familiar footsteps, walking deeper into the forest. They followed above, silently. Sirius suddenly turned to James.
"James, I know that the forest is very dangerous," he began. James nodded. "But...is above the forest dangerous?" James gulped. He looked out over the forest. In the dusk light, he couldn't see anything particularly dangerous.
"I don't think anything that's dangerous in the forest can fly." James said.
"Okay." Said Sirius.
"Oy! James and Sirius!" James and Sirius suddenly turned their heads. It was Remus.
"What are you doing ove-" He began, but stopped when he saw them waving their arms wildly. Their cover blown, James and Sirius immediately flew up and out from over the Forest to where Remus was.
"Remus! We were spying on Krupp over there!" Sirius yelled. Remus frowned. He took a step back and put his head down.
Smooth move, thought Sirius, he's already in the dumps! Agh, you blockhead!
"It doesn't matter." Said James quickly, putting a hand on Remus's shoulder. "I'm sure he's up to nothing. Lily's right, Dumbledore would know." Remus put his head up and smiled a bit.
"How about a fly around the castle? Calmed me and Sirius down quite a bit." Remus nodded.
"Sure. Oh, I forgot my broom in the changing room." James put up a hand.
"Take mine. I'll grab yours and catch up." Said James. He dashed off toward the pitch as Sirius and Remus took off. Once he got there, he quickly found Remus's broom and began to head back.
"Who's that?" He said to himself. He squinted and looked across the grass where he saw a few people. In a few moments, he recognized Lily, Mary, and Peter. They seemed to be walking slowly.
"What...the...Lestrange!" Lestrange and three of his cronies had their wands pointed at them. James quickly turned around, and ran to the dressing room. He grabbed three school-sticks, and flew off towards them.
Not exactly having a plan, he hurtled toward Lestrange. He quickly decided to knock the wands away with one swift expelliarmus. He prepared to toss the broomsticks to his friends.
"Expelliarmus!" He roared just as the four noticed him; it was Lestrange, Nott, as well as the first-years, Malfoy and Avery. The four wands were expertly lifted from their hands, and flew behind where they stood.
"Here!" He yelled, tossing the brooms to Mary and Lily. He quickly remembered Peter's ineptitude, and tossed his own Thunderbolt to him, thinking he was bad enough without the old, school brooms. The three quickly shot into the air, as the Slytherins tried to recover their wands. James, who had given his broom to Peter, was having trouble mounting the school-broom.
"After them!" Lestrange yelled, and the Slytherins took to the sky after Mary, Lily, and James.
Lestrange quickly found his wand. James drew his own.
"Ferio!" They both yelled. James's broom was knocked out from beneath him, and he fell forward. His wand was stuck into the ground. Lestrange was hit in the stomach, and again his wand flew from his hand, falling at James's feet.
Without noticing Lestrange's wand, James knelt to the ground and tried to recover his wand. Before he could even touch it, however, he heard Lestrange charging. He looked up. Lestrange had leapt into the air, his broomstick serving as both a joust and his flight tool.
James quickly lifted up his own broom, and holding it at the ends, held his ground. Lestrange's momentum carried him over James, as James's body went back like a limbo game. James fell onto the ground, and he noticed Lestrange's wand. Before he could grab his own, however, Lestrange was flying back at him. Knowing he had to stop Lestrange from getting his wand back, he stood firm again, and perried Lestrange to the side. Before Lestrange could attack again, James went on the offensive.
Holding it firmly at the base with one hand and holding the other out cautiously, James swung at Lestrange. Lestrange blocked by swinging the broomstick to point at the ground. Lestrange countered quickly by swinging it back at James's legs, but James blocked as well.
Now trying to out-force Lestrange, James gripped the broom by both ends again, and thrust the stick at Lestrange. Lestrange did the same, gripping the broom at each end, and blocked vertically. The two checked wildly at each other, pushing his opponent back and forth. James ended the stalemate by upper-cutting with the broom end of the stick. Lestrange's stick was knocked away, and the scraggly ends of the old broom scratched his face.
"Aagh!" He yelled. Before James could react, however, Lestrange leapt and, knocking James over, gripped James's broom. Trying to keep it out of his hands, James wrenched the broom upward. Lestrange maintained his grip, however, and the broom lurched into the air. The two gripped tightly, hanging as the broom plodded slowly into the air. They jockeyed viciously for possession of the stick, trying to take control and knock the other off. As they rose steadily higher, however, each became more desperate to hang on, and more fearful of the consequences of defeating his opponent.
In the end, however, Lestrange was victorious in his utter lack of mercy and common decency. He pulled himself up on the broom and kicked James hard in the chest with both feet. James momentarily released the broom completely, but quickly, grabbed back on to the tail end as Lestrange mounted it properly.
Lestrange kicked and jabbed at James, but could not properly knock him off while James kept moving about, shaking the broom and worsening Lestrange's accuracy. The pain in his chest was becoming too much. His thoughts raced back to the Quidditch match, when the Bludger struck him.
There would be no teachers to save him now. He resisted the pain. He remembered the incantation, dolor afflictio. But he had no wand...he concentrated hard. He remembered...Charms class. The wand was not the key. He was the key.
Dolor afflictio! He thought. Dolor afflictio! He thought again. He concentrated with all his might. Just as he felt he could hold on no longer, and that Lestrange might knock him off for good, the pain dissipated. He quickly grabbed the broom firmly with both hands and pulled himself up.
"Get off, Pudder!" Lestrange yelled. Now, however, they swooped over the top of one of the tall towers of the castle. James reached forward and gripped the front of the broom. Shifting his weight, he brought the broom down on the flat roof. They crashed hard, and the broomstick bounced forward. James being under the crash, smashed into the roof. Lestrange, however, rolled forward after the collision.
James might have been in as much, or even more pain than Lestrange then if it weren't for the pain reducer he had magicked upon himself. He quickly grabbed the broom.
"No Potter!" Lestrange yelled, doubled over and attempting to dash towards him. James, however, quickly grabbed the broom again, and leapt off the side of the tower, imprisoning Lestrange, and keeping him out of James's hair. As James slowed his descent, nearing the ground, he heard a yell.
"Sirius!"