Yo! How are you all out there? Hope well... now this is a nice, long chapter according to me, and I want nice, long and a lot many reviews for this one, OK? Love you all!! ;)
Perfect Quidditch conditions: Clear sky, not a cloud in sight and a warm sunny day. The Gryffindor Quidditch team filed out of their changing rooms after the mind-numbing pep talk by Daniel. James clearly hadn't listened to a thing he had said and his mind was still on the night Lily had kissed him...
Sirius was playing Keeper as he turned out to be far better than the team's previous one. As it was his first match at such a level, he was pressurized and his hands kept getting all sweaty and clammy.
'I'm ok. I just need to focus' he kept chanting to himself. All the while getting more and more nervous and anxious.
'You're going to be A-ok!' James assured him as he clapped him on the back. They entered the Quidditch pitch amidst great cheers from the crimson and gold side of the crowd. This seemed to hearten Sirius up as he flashed his most gorgeous smile to the crowd. Loud sighs from the girls were heard followed by chants of: 'Siri-us! Siri-us! Whoo Whoo!'
James spotted Lily in the crowd with extreme ease as her flaming red hair were easily distinguishable in the mass of the usual browns and blacks. She was waving energetically to him. This gave him new heart and a raging new energy. It also made him more determined than ever to win this match no matter what. He waved back and sent her flying kisses. Lily laughed back and kept cheering the Gryffindor team. Hisses and boos came from the mass of green and silver but was soon drowned with fresh mantras of 'Go Sirius! Go Sirius!'
After the entry of the Gryffindor team, the Slytherin team line up arrived into the grounds. The captain of the Slytherin team, Ian Ulrich looked more menacing than ever. Madam Hooch, the Sports teacher appeared into the ground, the crate containing the Quaffle, the Bludgers and the tiny golden Snitch, tucked carefully under her arm. She ordered the captain of the two teams to shake hands after the usual dire warnings of a 'nice, clean game' that always came before the match. Ulrich approached Daniel with an evil sneer plastered onto his face. Daniel forced a tight smile but shook hands anyway. Both of them withdrew quickly as if they would catch some disease if they didn't.
At Madam Hooch's whistle, which marked the start of the match, fourteen players shot upwards into the air surrounded by fresh cheers from the enthusiastic crowd. James flew off higher than anyone else and circled around the pitch trying to catch a glimpse of the tiny golden Snitch. The game went wild from the start: the chasers were playing as fast as ever and in the first fifteen minutes, Gryffindor had scored three goals. Sirius was playing marvelously as he saved the most difficult goals with immense ease and flew like he was born on a broomstick. James cheered Sirius on all the while. He circled the pitch again and again... he couldn't see it anywhere, on the other side of the Quidditch ground, the Slytherin seeker, Greg Walters was doing the same thing...
It was obvious that Gryffindor would win until the Slytherin beater, Charles Lloyd deliberately hit Sirius hard on the head. Madam Hooch was abashed at such a behavior from her student and gave two penalties to Gryffindor as Sirius's situation looked extremely bad. Daniel called time out and the whole team rushed to see Sirius. James was so angry he felt like smashing Lloyd's head! Sirius's face was all bloody and it seemed the bat had made contact with his face rather than his head. His nose seemed to be broken and he was unconscious. Madam Hooch led him to Madam Pomfrey, refusing to let anyone else take him. As Sirius himself was a replace keeper Daniel Thompson didn't know what to do or who to call. He called everyone round to discuss who they could have as keeper now that Sirius had been badly injured. No one knew what to do... until James had an idea.
He looked up into the stands where he could easily spot Lily, her red hair flitting in the wind and her hand clapped over her mouth. She looked horrified, she gave James a questioning look which he surprisingly returned with a smile. He went over to Daniel and whispered something in his ear. A minute later the game was resumed. Lily was playing keeper instead of Sirius and was looking determinedly serious. Daniel took the first penalty and scored. Fulton took the next penalty and... missed. There was a loud 'Oooooooh' from the Gryffindors and fresh cheers from the Slytherins. In all of the confusion James couldn't focus his mind on finding the Snitch. After the first foul by Slytherin, the game turned out to be the dirtiest and the foulest Hogwarts had ever seen. Lily was no match for the big and burly Slytherin chasers and she let in a few goals. However, when the Gryffindors cheered her one, she managed to do a bit better. Just when Lily saved a goal, James thought he saw a tiny glimpse of the Snitch near the Slytherin end of the pitch. The problem was, it was much nearer to Walters than it was to James, so there was only one thing left to do... faking.
James sped quite opposite to where the Snitch was and it worked, Walters, who wasn't a very good seeker himself (but the best Slytherin had) followed James believing he had seen the Snitch there somewhere. James pelted down until he swerved right and headed straight towards the Slytherin end of the pitch. The whole crowd gasped as James urged his Comet to go on. The Slytherin seeker realizing his stupidity followed James. But too late, James hand had already grasped the tiny fluttering ball and he was shooting upwards, clutching the struggling ball in his hand, beaming at the crowd. The crowd, which had been holding its breath for the past few minutes cheered like anything. The whole stadium erupted with fresh cheers and celebration from the Gryffindor side.
James finally touched down and the whole team came up to greet him. He was hugged a number of times before the whole team along with the many other Gryffindors hoisted James upon their shoulders and chanting 'Go Go Gryffindor! Go Go Gryffindor!' cheered and celebrated. James was beside himself with glee. He glanced around and finally saw Lily, standing there smiling at him, the most wonderful smile he had ever seen...
Okay, now you all may be thinking that 'OMG! Lily can do everything!' but the thing is, Lily has to be able to play Quidditch... because it's required in later chapters!
Now... for the reviewers...
Padfootsluvr: > muah> new reviewer, keep reviewing and I promise I'll keep the chapters coming as soon as I can, watch out! Coz soon enough, the story is about to get a little twist!
Lavender Mansworth: Love you forever! You're my regular reviewer, you deserve some sort of an award! It's ok if your review is late, at least you did review! Sorry about the 'Lily can do everything part' see, I really need to have it there because there's stuff concerning it in the later chapters, so you'll have to put up with it, OK? Thanks a lot!
