To Always Remember
Chapter Two - For Love and Quidditch
"You'll be at the game tomorrow, right?" asked James, looking across the room at Sirius, who was still trying to figure out what he was going to write.
"When have I ever missed a game?" asked Sirius with a chuckle.
James smiled softly and went back to looking through the pictures he had. For some odd reason, the three had noticed, Prongs kept a collection of photos from many years. There were countless pictures of the Marauders, some at school and others on their different summer outings.
Currently, he was looking longingly at one of Lily Evans.
"Will you ever learn that she hates you?" asked Sirius with a smile. "She'd rather date Severus than you, trust me."
A sigh escaped James's lips, such as the sigh of a love-struck young man. "I don't think I have ever seen anyone as beautiful as she," replied James, not actually answering the question. "Those deep green eyes...I wish she would look at me the way I look at her."
Remus chuckled softly, finally joining the conversation. "Do something for her," he advised wisely, as Remus seemed to always have the answers. "Make her realize that you are more than a star player of the Gryffindor Quidditch team or that you have other hobbies besides torturing Slytherins. Maybe if she knew you, she wouldn't hate you so much."
These words gave James an idea, and he left without a word, leaving his pictures by the window.
Sirius grabbed the box and began looking through the pictures. He'd never understand why James kept these silly pictures. There was one of Remus trying to down Sirius in the lake, a very un-Remus thing to do. Under it was a picture of the Marauders first summer together. They had gone to James's house for a week. The box held many other pictures: their first Christmas together, the results of their very first prank together, the Hogwarts express, and James's very first quidditch game.
These were the things that were most important to James. As Sirius dug gently through the pictures, one fell from the box and into his lap. There was one of James and Sirius taken not too long ago. James was wearing antlers and Sirius had on a pair of dog ears. There were words scribbled on the back in James's unique handwriting.
"Sirius Black and James Potter, always brothers," Sirius read aloud.
No one saw James until much later that night. He came into the dormitory to meet the very motherly gaze of Remus and Sirius's curious looks.
"What?" was his initial response. Then he laughed, "Oh, I get it. Sorry, but I had something...important to take care of."
"What could be so important that you would leave us out of it?" asked Sirius with a frown.
He simply smiled at the other three Marauders and simply sat down on his bed, taking the picture box out from under it. He realized that Sirius must have put it back.
"Are you ready for the game tomorrow?" asked Remus, suddenly breaking the silence between them.
James shrugged, "As ready as I'll ever get. If I practiced anymore, my broom will shrivel up and die." He laughed at himself, still staring down at the pictures. "It's going to rain tomorrow, so the game is going to be a little difficult."
"Not for the great James Potter," mocked Sirius with a smirk.
Prongs didn't even glance up at him. "Hmm, we'll see," he answered thoughtfully.
For hours, no one spoke save for the good-night they bade each other before going to bed. Tomorrow, whether it was known to them or not, would be a very eventful day.
As predicted, a storm started in the early hours of the morning and raged on until the afternoon. This storm, however, did not discourage the students from attending the game. Only a fool would miss this game, the first game where Slytherin and Gryffindor faced off against each other. It promised to be exciting.
Before they had left the common room, Remus had enchanted James's goggles so the rain would not completely blind him. The rain beat upon the Quidditch players of both teams as they took to the sky, flying over the pitch before the game began. The quaffle was thrown into the air. Almost immediately, it was in possession in the Gryffindor team. The chaser passed it to James, who flew swiftly across the field, displaying impressive maneuvers as he dodged in and out of Slytherins and bludgers before finally throwing the quaffle through the goal. The Gryffindor audience cheered wildly as their team scored. Their cheers were mixed with the loud shouting of the Slytherins who called out various foul names at Potter.
James just answered by doing a showy loop on his broom before returning back to the Gryffindor's side of the field. The captain praised the start Chaser before he went after the quaffle once more. Though the Slytherins had possession of it, they did not have it for long. James quickly stole it from their team and passed it to a teammate, who quickly scored a goal. The score became twenty to nothing, and the Slytherins were not liking this at all.
Thus, they resorted to cheating. James went for the quaffle once again, but was stopped as the two Beaters hit the bludgers at him. As he dodged them, the Slytherin Chaser slipped past him. One of the other Chasers knocked the Gryffindor Keeper away from the goal and the Chaser with the quaffle was allowed to score. The cheers from the other three houses besides Slytherin drowned out the wild cheers of the Slytherin, Gryffindors being loudest in their protest against the cheating ways of their team's opponents.
The score still went down as twenty to ten.
Lightning flashed across the sky and thunder broke the roaring cheers of the students. The professors suggested that they postpone the game until the weather became fairer, but the players would hear nothing of it. They continued to play, the Chasers flying around the field after the quaffle, the Keepers flying about the goal posts effectively protecting them, the Beaters protecting their teammates from the awful bludgers, and the Seekers circling above while watching with keen eyes for the golden snitch.
Gryffindor scored yet another goal and score became thirty to ten. The stadium went wild, the school obviously favoring Gryffindor over Slytherin.
Sirius watched admiringly as James flew by the stands and grabbed the quaffle before it could hit a few first years after it was knocked forcefully away from a Slytherin Chaser by a bludger. Easily utilizing his great speed and agility, James made it across the field and threw the quaffle perfectly between the two goals. The stadium went wild once more and the score became forty to ten.
Remus pointed to the Slytherin captain, bringing Sirius's attention to him, as he made a gesture to his Beaters. The Beaters passed the gesture to the Chasers, whose frustrated frowns became wicked smirks. Sirius tried to shout to James as he flew by, but the noise was too loud.
The thunder roared once more, accompanying the lightning that whipped at the clouds. The players remained unaffected. The quaffle went into the possession of the Slytherin Chasers, but it was quickly relieved by a Gryffindor Chaser who passed it off to James. Prongs did a barrel roll to avoid a Slytherin beater "accidentally" swinging at him. Clutching the quaffle tight against him, he sped towards the goal. The Slytherin Chasers placed themselves between him and the two side goals. He went under them and threw the quaffle at the middle post.
The bludgers came at him before had the time to dodge them. The first bludger struck him in the side, breaking his arm, dislocating his shoulder, and nearly throwing him from his broom. As he tried desperately to get back onto his broom using his only good arm, a huge gust of wind threw him at the goal post, but he was able to stop himself from running into the long post quickly with his feet. Unfortunately, even that couldn't stop the second bludger as it hit him violently in the back. It slammed him forcefully against the goal post and he fell with a sickening thud to the ground. The thunder shook the crowd and the lightning lashed out at them as everyone froze safe for the Seekers, who were so busy in their chase after the snitch that they had not noticed the fallen player.
Sirius and Remus rushed onto the field, running towards James as he attempted the stubborn young wizard attempting to stand on his shattered knee. The two Marauders quickly caught him as he fell, preventing another horrible fall to the ground.
"Those dirty Slytherin bastards!" said Sirius angrily as he and Remus started to quickly get James to the Hospital Wing without hurting him. "I'll hunt those Beaters down and make them pay, those dirty rotten---"
"Please, Sirius, right now we have other things to worry about," said the wise Moony, reminding him that their first priority was to get their injured friend help.
Madame Pomfrey let out a horrified gasp that was nearly a shriek when they entered and placed James on the bed. His right knee was shattered, the leg laying limp and twitching from muscle spasms every now and then. A deep gash was left in his head where he was thrown into the goal post, and his arm lay limp at his side, the bone nearly sticking out of the skin. His shoulder, while being dislocated, was pinching a nerve and keeping him from feeling the pain of his arm. He was slightly grateful for this.
Remus and Sirius stood on one side of the bed as Madame Pomfrey fiercely attended to James, fussing over him like a mother over her small child. She handed him a fowl tasting potion, but he was in no mood or condition to protest. This potion, however, healed his dislocated shoulder. His broken arm sent pain up his arm. The surprise caused him to cry out and his upper body jerked slightly. Dizziness overtook him and he nearly passed out.
"Woah, take it easy there, Prongs," advised Remus.
Madame Pomfrey came back and healed his broken arm, but the nauseous and dizzying feeling was still there. After mending his knee, she commanded him to sleep. Sirius chuckled as she left for the backroom, muttering under her breath about Quidditch probably being the death of the students.
Before the two Marauders had a chance to speak to their friends, Peter rushed in followed by, oddly enough, Lily Evans. She ran across the room and stopped at James's bed.
"For goodness sake, you scared me half to death, Potter!" she said, trying to be angry, but she couldn't. Remus even noticed a tear in her eye.
"You were worried?" asked James weakly, looking at her.
"Of course, you dolt! The whole Gryffindor house and half the girls of Hogwarts were worried about you!" she exclaimed, trying to cover up her true feelings. She had really feared for James.
He smiled softly at her, "But you're the only one who came to see me."
Lily gave a defeated sigh and covered James gently with the blanket. "Go to sleep, Potter," she said with a soft smile. "Maybe, if you're lucky, I'll come see you tomorrow."
James stared after her longingly as she left the room. Were those emotions actual worry? Was that kindness she had just given him?
Sirius laughed, for he had never seen James happier in his entire life. "Should I start calling her Lily Potter just to get used to it?" he asked teasingly.
The answer he received was not a joke. "Yes, because that is the woman that I want to marry."
It was nearly two weeks before the injured Chaser was released from the Hospital Wing. During that time, many Slytherins were admitted to the Hospital Wing under "mysterious" circumstances. James knew exactly who it was. While he was honored to have a friend like Sirius, he was a little worried that his closest friend might go too far. Padfoot's overconfidence was bound to get him or others hurt, and it wasn't something James was looking forward to.
He made his way sluggishly up the stairs and entered the Gryffindor common room. A loud cheer erupted as he stepped in, a crowd of Gryffindor students filled the common room. The three Marauders were eagerly awaiting him at the front of the crowd.
"Peter thought that we should give you a grand welcome back, so Sirius threw this party together," explained Remus with a chuckle.
James looked around and was actually surprised. "Wow, thanks guys," he said with a smile. He scanned the faces of the crowd, "Wait, how did the Quidditch game turn out?"
"We won!" said Sirius proudly. "We kicked Slytherin's sorry ass to the curb! Next time they'll think twice before they decide to take down our star player!"
Remus pulled out the stash of food they had gotten from the kitchen earlier as Sirius announced importantly that the party had to begin. Thus, the party carried on well into the night.
As midnight came and went, James was the last one left in the common room, staring out of the window. He wished that he could just jump from the window and fly among the stars, maneuvering through the clouds and fog. Even after the injuries he had suffered, he longed to be back on the broom again.
A soft chuckle reached his ears and he turned to see the green-eyed, red-haired, beautiful woman known as Lily Evans watching him. "James Potter, always with his head stuck in the clouds, eh?" she remarked before sitting next to him.
He smiled softly at her, "As soon as I touch the ground, I want to be in the air again. There is nothing that can compare to the feeling of a carefree flight on a broom."
"Nothing?" she asked, raising and eyebrow with a small smirk on her face.
"Well, maybe one thing," replied James, his own hazel eyes staring into the beautiful deep green pools that were Lily's eyes.
"And what would that be?" asked the red-headed beauty.
"Love," said the confident Prongs, "is better than flying. Love is flying without the broomstick, like a bird, but higher than a bird. It's flying without the restraints of the human body. With love as my wings, I could make it all the way to the moon. Past the moon, even. I could join the stars!"
His words touched her heart. Never had she expected such depth to James, but people always surprised you. Maybe, she was too busy hating him to realize that there was more to him than a big ego or fancy Quidditch moves. There was a possibility that he had other hobbies besides torturing Slytherins and playing pranks. Of course, she knew he had great marks in his classes, but what did that mean? So he was smart, that was nothing.
She stared at him and smiled. He was also handsome, though. Lily removed his glasses from his face and chuckled.
"Speechless?" he asked with a slight laugh.
As the crescent moon shined its gentle rays gently upon the couple through the window, Lily pulled James closer to her and kissed him deeply.
It was only the beginning of a wonderful romance.
TO BE CONTINUED!