I'm sorry, I think this is kinda late. But… I have my reasons! See, first of all, my mid years were kinda delayed a bit and they took later than I thought they would. Then when I was done with my exam-o s my computer went bonkers. Sorry for the long wait. And I couldn't write much either! :'( I'm sorry, I'll get writing pretty soon I promise!


The jubilant rays of the ever-so-brilliant sun were suddenly dampened by the arrival of heavy rain. The bright yellow-gold sky turned into a murky grey with an alarming abruptness. The heavy downpour hadn't even given a warning as usual, with a slight drizzling – instead it had just started off with heavy raindrops slish-sloshing down exceptionally swiftly.

Since the area where the audience wasn't covered, unlike the area where the players and the teachers were seated, panic rose in the audience. Dumbledore, taking immediate action, stood up and went over to the end of the stage. Waving his wand he produced a coverage for the audience in an instant. Then he went over to the podium and spoke clearly into the microphone:

'Please calm down. It's just a little downpour! Seems like someone up there (he motioned upwards to the sky) doesn't want us to play the match today'

The audience that had settled down when Dumbledore had started speaking now groaned in unison.

'I know, I know! We all wanted to see the match being played today, but taking certain circumstances into consideration, we will have to postpone the match until conditions are better than… this' he said despairingly. 'I think Mr. Hemphord will agree with me when I say that it is not suitable for our players to play in this weather, it's very dangerous. And besides, there will be a lot of visibility problems. I don't think it will be reasonable to continue on with our program anyway'

Mr. Hemphord strolled around next to Dumbledore. 'I completely agree Dumbledore, we cannot have a match in these conditions. I suggest we have a meeting, the teachers, you and I' he said referring to Dumbledore. 'And then, we shall inform you about the decision taken by the administration' he ended. Dumbledore nodded his approval and announced to the audience that they could wait in the Great Hall if they wished to, or they could simply go up in their dormitories.

The audience started to get up and go back towards the castle again. Most of them looked sad and disgruntled. Everyone had waited for the match for days and now that the day was finally here, the weather wasn't suitable! How annoying is that? Not to mention frustrating. It's like having a Twix® some distance away and not being able to reach out to it and grab it. And when you finally grab it, not being able to eat it! There was some angry grumbling along with a lot of chatter amongst the crowd as it slowly thinned. It was a bad day for the crowd, but it was nothing compared to what the teams were having.

Back in the area where the teams, the teachers and the headmasters of the two schools were seated, the Gryffindor team seemed to be having a wreck of a day. Daniel Thompson, just stood there, rooted to the ground and gaping mournfully at the sky, disappointment etched on his face. The rain seemed to have washed away his high hopes and merry thoughts of victory. Anthony Fulton, who was usually very happy when practice was cancelled, seemed ultimately grieved that their big match was postponed – he probably wanted to get it over with as soon as possible! Paul Stately and Edwin Poirier were talking in hushed voices about something. Sirius was staring into space with a blank look on his face. Selina George was looking absolutely frustrated, her pretty face was distorted into a cute frown, she had her head rested on both her hands in despair. James's situation was the closest to Daniel's. His head was hung in grief and he was absolutely still – motionless. With the grief of not having the match, he didn't even notice that Lily was calling out to him from the crowd. She had probably gotten over her anger from the morning, and wanted to be there for James at this moment.

However, Sirius did spot her – it was pretty easy, she was the only one left in the stands now. He looked over at James who hadn't even looked at her once. Lily was so sweet, and James wasn't paying her the tiniest bit of attention, he seriously had to better his relationship with her. Sirius made a mental note to talk to James about it when they got back to their dormitory. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted out 'Yo!' in Lily's direction. Descending down the stairs which were stationary in mid-air, Lily looked around and waved at him. 'Was she pretty!' thought Sirius as he watched her come down the stairs and towards the area where the players were standing. The Gryffindor team was the only ones there as the other team along with the two headmasters had already left. Daniel had lied about wanting to tell his teammates about something so that Dumbledore would let them stay there and mourn in solitude.

'James… James! I'm so sorry…' Lily said as she finally came up to James. James looked up, Lily had never seen him look so sad before. He seriously needed a hug… so she gave him one!

'I so badly wanted to see you play today! When is it going to take place – the match? Dumbledore didn't say anything?' she asked him, trying to start up a conversation.

'Lily, if the time of the match was decided, Dumbledore would surely tell the whole school about it, don't you think?' James retorted in a slightly stiff tone of voice. Saying this, he turned away and sat back down in his seat with his head in his hands. Lily looked at him despairingly.

'Look, there's nothing we can do about it, right? There's no use crying over spilt potion any way!' she said, trying to cheer him up. 'Let's go upstairs, and by the way, don't you think you get more time to practice if the match gets postponed?' she asked him, meanwhile searching for more advantages of the match being postponed.

'Lily! Get real!' James shouted out abruptly. 'We've practiced all this time, and now we can't play just because of the stupid rain! And the more its delayed, the more are the chances of the Durmstrang team knowing about our statistics in the match! Don't you get it? This game holds a lot of importance – to me at least! If we lose, its…' he closed his eyes in grief and walked away from her.

Lily had tears in her eyes now. James had shouted at her in front of the whole team! Didn't he think she had a sense of self-respect? Trying to hold back the tears that were filling up her eyes, she looked away from James and started to head back to the castle. Then turning around, 'This just shows that Quidditch is all that matters to you! No one else has any importance compared to a mere match! And I thought you were different…' she said in a quivering voice. She turned around and ran off to the castle doors.

'Lily, wait!' said… Sirius,(and not James,) as he tried to stop her from going away in such a temper.

James hadn't even heard her. Sirius glared at him for a second, then, tightening his robe around himself, he marched off towards the castle himself. James simply stared into space. With no realization that he had let down the one person he had taken years to ask out. Selina, sensing the situation went up to James cautiously.

'Erm… James? I don't think that was a very good thing to do. Lily was really mad, and you know redheads' tempers, right?' she said precariously.

'She'll be okay, it's just the match… being postponed and everything!' he said in a small voice.

'You really hurt her there, and everyone knows how badly you wanted her to be your girlfriend! Now that you've succeeded in your mission, you're not even valuing her enough! And all this because of the delay of the match? I thought I knew you better! You gave preference to the mourning of your already delayed match over Lily's feelings?' Selina articulated. When James didn't respond she roughly shook him.

'Maybe Selina was right, maybe he had hurt Lily's feelings' James thought as he was snapped out of his trance. God knows what he had blabbed when he was shouting at her. She must really be hurt! He was such a jerk! He shouldn't have had… he hadn't even stopped her when she went away! Instead… Sirius had… James made a mental note to thank Sirius afterwards, he was such a good pal! He probably went over to calm her down and make her understand that James was just in a very bad mood.

'Thanks Selina!' he cried as he ran off to the castle entrance as well.

'Good job!' Fulton remarked as he came up to Selina and gave her a pat on the back.

'I just love playing cupid!' sighed Selina, gazing at James's retreating figure.


I know its not much, just bear with me! I promise I'll get writing soon! I need your reviews as well. I have so much to do nowadays, it's getting really hard, see?

Lavender Mansworth: Hey there! Sorry for the long wait. Thanks a lot for your review! Love ya!!

PadfootsLuvr: Yay, you regular reviewer you! How are you today? Hope you like the chappy, its not much, but its something!

Magicians of the Yami: There you are! Hope you're doing good. Sorry for the delay, I promise to put up something good soon enough!


HadsKunwar

Signing Off