CHAPTER SEVEN

AN: I can't be bothered to wait for reviews, but I still want them, so review, review! I hope this chapter slows down a bit.

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"I know we can beat them," James looks confidently at the team, "C'mon, lets go."

We file out, each with our brooms over our shoulders.

We are met with an ear splitting applause. Most of the crowd is clad in red, and are waving red banners. I glance at the stands. Martin and Bertha are waving a banner with the flashing names of the teams' members on it. Courtney gives James a soppy smile from the grandstand. Sick.

The Slytherin team enters the stadium, and a small green minority within the rowdy crowd cheers, while the rest boo our opponents.

"Captains, shake hands."

James leans across to take Laura's hand. It's funny how haughty obnoxious people seem ugly. It's like they give off some sort of ugly aura that affects how they look. Laura glares at James through dark squinty eyes from under her spiky hair covering her face. It's not that I have anything against spiky hair, its just that… well, yeah, I have a thing against it.

"Mount your brooms."

I nudge Sirius, who doesn't seem to have noticed that we're supposed to be getting onto our brooms. He's staring at the Slytherin seeker, Shana. Her hair is pulled back into a cute ponytail streaked with green glitter.

"Sirius, back to earth please," I poke Sirius.

He shakes himself, grins embarrassedly at me and mounts his broom.

"Three, two-"

We kick off as the balls are released. Miriam, Chris and I fly into our usual arrow formation, and manage to push through our defenders to score.

"Miriam passes to Lily who passes to Chris in the middle. Chris passes to Miriam, then to Lily again at the side. She dodges a bludger, passes to Chris who passes back to Lily still off centre, and – SCORES!"

The Slytherin supporters moan amongst the loud cheering from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.

"The Slytherins chasers take a line formation, with Georgie at the front. Georgie passes to David, and David gets ready to – ouch! He's met face to face with a bludger hit by Sirius from Gryffindor, and looses the quaffle."

Ri circles above, searching for the snitch. She wears glasses, and isn't very good at playing her position.

"Boberta sends another bludger at the Slytherins, breaking their line formation. Miriam takes the quaffle, passes to Chris who is scratched by a slow bludger. He passes to Lily, who passes back to Chris, and he SCORES! Twenty zero to Gryffindor."

The game continues for another three quarters of an hour, in which we score another eighty points, making our total one hundred to 50 from Slytherin.

"I'm tired," Miriam moans as we take a time out.

"Ri, get that snitch," Chris flops onto the ground, "My back is hurting."

"Yeah, us too," Sirius and Boberta say, "Our arms hurt."

James looks at our unhappy team. "Lily, how are you."

"I'm… I've been worse," I say.

"Guys, we have two choices," James says, "We can keep Slytherin from scoring, take another 110 points ourselves and let Slytherin get the snitch to end the game with us more than 150 points ahead, which I'm adding aren't spectacular chances, or we can get one team member to catch the darn snitch and end the game in 2 seconds as opposed to 2 hours!"

Ri cringes in humiliation.

"Yes, that's right Ri, we might need you to catch the snitch," James says sarcastically.

"I'm sorry," Ri mumbles, looking at the ground.

"Lily, leave Miriam and Chris to score, and circle with Ri to look for the snitch," James orders me. I nod. He's right, if we don't end this games soon, we'll all be exhausted.

"End of time out!"

We kick off again into the fast cooling air. I circle with Ri above the game.

"Is it really true?" Ri asks.

"What?" I say irritated.

"That James isn't chasing after you anymore."

"Ri, this really isn't the time to talk about this. We're in the middle of a game, so please try to concentrate," I mutter, squinting into the sunset to search for the snitch.

Ri and I circle for a few minutes while the night approaches fast.

"Lily?"

"What?"

"I was wondering…"

"Stop it!"

"But-"

"Ri, snitch!" I point at a golden speck reflecting the red rays of sunset.

Ri darts for the snitch but Shana's already seen it and is speeding to it twice at fast as Ri's crappy broom can go. I see Sirius near the snitch.

"SIRIUS!" I bellow.

He turns around.

I point to the snitch. "HIT A BLUDGER AT SHANA!" I yell.

He looks petrified. What's wrong with him? He's a beater for god's sake!

"IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO SLOW HER DOWN. HIT THE BLOODY BLUDGER!"

He hesitates for a second, but a second is all the Shana need to grasp the snitch in her fingers. She pulls out of her dive gracefully, and raises her fist in triumph, while Ri struggles to pull out of the dive, and ends up crashing to the pitch below.

"Slytherin take the victory," the commentator announces warily.

Our team floats back down to ground. James has gone mad at Ri.

"I was trying, but I couldn't go any faster," she wails through tears, "Shana was too fast."

James rounds on the beaters. "WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST HIT A BLUDGER AT SHANA THEN?!" he yells.

Sirius looks shamefully at the ground.

"SIRIUS!?!" James bellows at the sunken figure of Sirius.

"GOD." James cries in frustration as our team drags itself into the change rooms.

We all undress in silence.

"Lily, Miriam, Chris, Boberta, you played well," James says half heartedly, "But SOME of us may need to consider resigning," he says pointedly at Sirius and Ri.

"It's not their fault," I say, feeling sorry for Ri, "it's my fault. If I had seen the snitch quicker then Ri would've gotten to it before Shana and Sirius wouldn't have needed to hit the bludger."

"I don't need you to stick up for me!" Ri yells and storms out of the change rooms.

"I never said it wasn't your fault," James points out before leaving.

I look at the ground, tears welling in my eyes.

"Don't worry Lily," Miriam says turning to leave.

"Yeah, James is just in a bad mood," Chris mutters before following Miriam out of the change rooms.

I'm about to leave too, when I remember Sirius. He's sitting at the entrance to the stadium, shoulders drooping.

"Sirius?"

Grunt. Great reply.

"Are you ok?" I approach him cautiously.

"Yep," he says shortly.

"I don't think so," I say.

He turns to face me. "Why didn't I just hit the stupid bludger? It would've saved the whole game."

"Shana's a good flier, she might have dodged it and gotten the snitch anyway," I reason.

"It's still my fault," Sirius mutters, "She probably thinks I'm even more of an idiot now."

"You couldn't help it," I say, pulling him up, "C'mon, I know you're hungry," I say.

~*~*~*~*~*

"James, over here," Courtney calls.

I walk over to her reluctantly.

"Hi! You played great!" Courtney smiles.

Who is this girl? She's smiling when we obviously just lost against Slytherin.

"Are you ok?" Courtney frowns.

"Do you think I'm ok after losing to Slytherin?" I yell.

Courtney cringes. "It's just a game," she whispers.

"A GAME?? A GAME??" I yell. Where has this girl been living? Quidditch isn't just a game!

"It doesn't matter, you're out of the season, it was only the first round," Courtney says.

I'm exasperated! Doesn't this girl understand? Doesn't she get what it's like to play quidditch? Lily and Sirius walk out of the change rooms, both looking crushed and exhausted.

"See them? That's how you should look, not happy! Don't you understand? It's quidditch Courtney! Don't you get it??" I point at Lily and Sirius.

Courtney looks wounded. "Maybe if Lily understands everything you should get with her then," Courtney turns and walks off, tears rolling down her fair face.

~*~*~*~*~*

"Sirius? Are you ok?" Bertha asks at dinner.

Poor guy, having the whole team blame him for our loss, and what for? Just for Shana.

"Just leave him alone," I say to Bertha, "He needs some time to reflect."

"You sound like counsellor," Bertha giggles.

"Well, I have no idea what I sound like because my eardrums have been permanently damaged from James' yelling. Speaking of which, where is he?" I look up and down the table for him.

"Um, Lily, aren't you angry at him?"

"No. He can do whatever he wants to do. Why would I be angry? There he is."

James is sitting by himself, trying to look as unnoticeable as possible. He's staring at the bewitched ceiling, and subconsciously poking at his mash potato with his soupspoon.

"Where's Courtney," I wonder out loud.

"Since when have you cared?"

"Since never, but it's just that there hasn't been a day when they aren't together, so it's just a bit weird," I mutter.

"Lily?"

"Hmn?"

"Are you happy?"

"Happy with what?"

"Just everything in general."

"What is this? Random question time?"

We sit in silence for a while, eating our pudding. I look at the Slytherin table. Shana is happily talking to her group of friends. They all lean towards Shana. It looks like they're secretly debating something. Then Shana stands up confidently and glides between the tables. She's heading in our direction. Towards Sirius. I think I better get Sirius' face out of his ice cream bowl.

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PREVIEW FOR NEXT CHAPTER

Bertha is tricked, Remus looks for Lily, and Peter comes out of hospital wing (finally)! Sirius and Shana. Shana wants to speak to Sirius, but will Sirius make a fool of himself? Or will he manage to get the ice cream off his face? Lily and Martin. Will Lily confront Martin? What do you think? James and Courtney. Do you want James to repair the relationship or do you want him to leave it? Reviewers, take your say in what happens next!